Techniques for unlinking physical downlink control channel (pdcch) candidates due to pdcch candidate dropping in deployments featuring pdcch repetition

ABSTRACT

This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for maintaining, between a user equipment (UE) and a component of a base station (BS), a mutual understanding of a set of linked physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates if the UE selects to monitor a subset of the linked PDCCH candidates. In one aspect, the UE may monitor the subset of the linked PDCCH candidates, and the UE and the component of the BS may select a reference PDCCH candidate from which to define scheduling information in accordance with the UE monitoring the subset of the linked PDCCH candidates. In some examples, the UE and the component of the BS may select the reference PDCCH candidate in accordance with one or more mutually understood rules or procedures such that the UE and the component of the BS may select a same reference PDCCH candidate.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to wireless communications, including techniquesfor unlinking physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates dueto PDCCH candidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED TECHNOLOGY

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as voice, video, packet data,messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with multiple users by sharing the availablesystem resources (for example, time, frequency, and power). Examples ofsuch multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems suchas Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, orLTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may bereferred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employtechnologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA),orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-accesscommunications system may include one or more base stations (BSs) or oneor more network access nodes, each simultaneously supportingcommunication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwiseknown as user equipment (UE).

In some systems, a UE may monitor over a control channel, such as aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH), for control information froma BS. In some aspects, the UE may decode the control information and theUE and the BS may use the control information to support communicationbetween the UE and the BS.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods and devices of this disclosure each have severalinnovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for thedesirable attributes disclosed herein.

One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosurecan be implemented in a method for wireless communications at a userequipment (UE). The method may include receiving an indication of a setof linked physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates, the setof linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate and asecond PDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation, selecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoringaccording to a resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, selecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or the secondPDCCH candidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates inconnection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoring, andmonitoring the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with the selectedreference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a UE. The apparatus may include a first interface, asecond interface, and a processing system. The first interface may beconfigured to receive an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate anda second PDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation. The processing system may be configured to select thesecond PDCCH candidate for monitoring according to a resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate. The processing system may befurther configured to select one of the first PDCCH candidate or thesecond PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate formonitoring and monitor the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theselected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a UE. The apparatus may include a processor, memorycoupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. Theinstructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatusto receive an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate and a secondPDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCH information,select the second PDCCH candidate for monitoring according to a resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, select one of thefirst PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate as a reference forthe set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection with selecting thesecond PDCCH candidate for monitoring, and monitor the second PDCCHcandidate in accordance with the selected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in another apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a UE. The apparatus may include means for receiving anindication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCHcandidates including a first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCHcandidate that are associated with a same PDCCH information, means forselecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoring according to aresource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, means forselecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidateas a reference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection withselecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoring, and means formonitoring the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with the selectedreference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing code for wireless communications at a UE. The code mayinclude instructions executable by a processor to receive an indicationof a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidatesincluding a first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that areassociated with a same PDCCH information, select the second PDCCHcandidate for monitoring according to a resource conflict associatedwith the first PDCCH candidate, select one of the first PDCCH candidateor the second PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate formonitoring, and monitor the second PDCCH candidate in accordance withthe selected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communications ata UE. The method may include receiving an indication of a set of linkedPDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates including multiplePDCCH candidates that are associated with a same PDCCH information andselecting to monitor a first PDCCH candidate that is outside of the setof linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with a resource conflictbetween the first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that iswithin the set of linked PDCCH candidates, where the first PDCCHcandidate is selected instead of an entirety of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a UE. The apparatus may include a first interface, asecond interface, and a processing system. The first interface may beconfigured to receive an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidatesthat are associated with a same PDCCH information. The processing systemmay be configured to select to monitor a first PDCCH candidate that isoutside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with aresource conflict between the first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCHcandidate that is within the set of linked PDCCH candidates, where thefirst PDCCH candidate is selected instead of an entirety of the set oflinked PDCCH candidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in another apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a UE. The apparatus may include a processor, memorycoupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. Theinstructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatusto receive an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidates that areassociated with a same PDCCH information and select to monitor a firstPDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates inaccordance with a resource conflict between the first PDCCH candidateand a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selected instead of anentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in another apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a UE. The apparatus may include means for receiving anindication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCHcandidates including multiple PDCCH candidates that are associated witha same PDCCH information and means for selecting to monitor a firstPDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates inaccordance with a resource conflict between the first PDCCH candidateand a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selected instead of anentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing code for wireless communications at a UE. The code mayinclude instructions executable by a processor to receive an indicationof a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidatesincluding multiple PDCCH candidates that are associated with a samePDCCH information and select to monitor a first PDCCH candidate that isoutside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with aresource conflict between the first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCHcandidate that is within the set of linked PDCCH candidates, where thefirst PDCCH candidate is selected instead of an entirety of the set oflinked PDCCH candidates.

One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosurecan be implemented in a method for wireless communications at a basestation (BS). The method may include outputting an indication of a setof linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates includinga first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that are associatedwith a same PDCCH information, selecting the second PDCCH candidate as amonitored PDCCH candidate according to a resource conflict associatedwith the first PDCCH candidate, selecting one of the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCHcandidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate, and outputting the PDCCHinformation over the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theselected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a BS. The apparatus may include a first interface, asecond interface, and a processing system. The first interface may beconfigured to output an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate anda second PDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation. The processing system may be configured to select thesecond PDCCH candidate as a monitored PDCCH candidate according to aresource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate and toselect one of the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate asa reference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection withselecting the second PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate.The first interface or the second interface may be configured to outputthe PDCCH information over the second PDCCH candidate in accordance withthe selected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in another apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a BS. The apparatus may include a processor, memorycoupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. Theinstructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatusto output an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate and a secondPDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCH information,select the second PDCCH candidate as a monitored PDCCH candidateaccording to a resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, select one of the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCHcandidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates inconnection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate as the monitoredPDCCH candidate, and output the PDCCH information over the second PDCCHcandidate in accordance with the selected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in another apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a BS. The apparatus may include means for outputtingan indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linkedPDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCHcandidate that are associated with a same PDCCH information, means forselecting the second PDCCH candidate as a monitored PDCCH candidateaccording to a resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, means for selecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or thesecond PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate asthe monitored PDCCH candidate, and means for outputting the PDCCHinformation over the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theselected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing code for wireless communications at a BS. The code mayinclude instructions executable by a processor to output an indicationof a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidatesincluding a first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that areassociated with a same PDCCH information, select the second PDCCHcandidate as a monitored PDCCH candidate according to a resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, select one of thefirst PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate as a reference forthe set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection with selecting thesecond PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate, and output thePDCCH information over the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theselected reference.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communications ata BS. The method may include outputting an indication of a set of linkedPDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates including multiplePDCCH candidates that are associated with a same PDCCH information andselecting a first PDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates as a monitored PDCCH candidate in accordance with aresource conflict between the first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCHcandidate that is within the set of linked PDCCH candidates, where thefirst PDCCH candidate is selected as the monitored PDCCH candidateinstead of an entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a BS. The apparatus may include a first interface, asecond interface, and a processing system. The first interface may beconfigured to output an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidatesthat are associated with a same PDCCH information. The processing systemmay be configured to select a first PDCCH candidate that is outside ofthe set of linked PDCCH candidates as a monitored PDCCH candidate inaccordance with a resource conflict between the first PDCCH candidateand a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selected as the monitoredPDCCH candidate instead of an entirety of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in another apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a BS. The apparatus may include a processor, memorycoupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. Theinstructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatusto output an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidates that areassociated with a same PDCCH information and select a first PDCCHcandidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates as amonitored PDCCH candidate in accordance with a resource conflict betweenthe first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that is withinthe set of linked PDCCH candidates, where the first PDCCH candidate isselected as the monitored PDCCH candidate instead of an entirety of theset of linked PDCCH candidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in another apparatus for wirelesscommunications at a BS. The apparatus may include means for outputtingan indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linkedPDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidates that are associatedwith a same PDCCH information and means for selecting a first PDCCHcandidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates as amonitored PDCCH candidate in accordance with a resource conflict betweenthe first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that is withinthe set of linked PDCCH candidates, where the first PDCCH candidate isselected as the monitored PDCCH candidate instead of an entirety of theset of linked PDCCH candidates.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing code for wireless communications at a BS. The code mayinclude instructions executable by a processor to output an indicationof a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidatesincluding multiple PDCCH candidates that are associated with a samePDCCH information and select a first PDCCH candidate that is outside ofthe set of linked PDCCH candidates as a monitored PDCCH candidate inaccordance with a resource conflict between the first PDCCH candidateand a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selected as the monitoredPDCCH candidate instead of an entirety of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates.

Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter describedin this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages will becomeapparent from the description, the drawings and the claims. Note thatthe relative dimensions of the following figures may not be drawn toscale.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system thatsupports techniques for unlinking physical downlink control channel(PDCCH) candidates due to PDCCH candidate dropping in deploymentsfeaturing PDCCH repetition.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example signaling diagram that supports techniquesfor unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidate dropping indeployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate example communication timelines that supporttechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate example PDCCH candidate linking procedures thatsupport techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate example PDCCH candidate monitoring procedures thatsupport techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate example process flows that support techniquesfor unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidate dropping indeployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

FIGS. 14 and 15 show block diagrams of example devices that support thatsupports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

FIGS. 16-19 show flowcharts illustrating example methods that supporttechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is directed to some implementations for thepurposes of describing the innovative aspects of this disclosure.However, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readilyrecognize that the teachings herein can be applied in a multitude ofdifferent ways. The described implementations may be implemented in anydevice, system or network that is capable of transmitting and receivingradio frequency (RF) signals according to any of the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 16.11 standards, or any ofthe IEEE 802.11 standards, the Bluetooth® standard, code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), timedivision multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile communications(GSM), GSM/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband-CDMA(W-CDMA), Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1×EV-DO, EV-DO Rev A, EV-DORev B, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed Downlink PacketAccess (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolved HighSpeed Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), AMPS, or otherknown signals that are used to communicate within a wireless, cellularor internet of things (IOT) network, such as a system utilizing 3G, 4Gor 5G, or further implementations thereof, technology.

In some systems, a base station (BS), or one or more components of a BS,may transmit downlink control information (DCI) to a user equipment (UE)over a downlink control channel, such as a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH), with repetition. For example, the BS, or one or morecomponents of the BS, may transmit a same DCI over each of multiplePDCCH candidates that are linked for the repetition of the DCI. As such,the UE may monitor for the DCI over the multiple PDCCH candidates and,in some examples, may combine multiple received instances of the DCIprior to decoding (which may increase a likelihood for the UE tosuccessfully decode the DCI). In such examples in which the UE receivesmultiple instances of the same DCI over the multiple PDCCH candidates,the UE and the BS may define a reference PDCCH candidate from which anyscheduling information or scheduling restrictions obtained from the DCIare measured or defined.

In some examples, however, the UE may refrain from monitoring one ormore PDCCH candidates of the multiple PDCCH candidates that are linkedfor the repetition of the DCI as a result of a resource conflict (forexample, due to PDCCH overbooking or conflicting resource assignments,among other examples). Such a dropping of a PDCCH candidate from themultiple PDCCH candidates that are linked for repetition may result inambiguity between the UE and the BS as to which PDCCH candidate isselected as the reference PDCCH candidate. For example, the UE and theBS may lack a well-defined procedure for defining whether or not the UEand the BS still consider the dropped PDCCH candidate as part of themultiple PDCCH candidates that are linked for repetition, which maypotentially result in the UE and the BS operating in accordance withdifferent communication timelines if the UE and the BS select differentreference PDCCH candidates.

In some implementations of the present disclosure, the UE and the BS, orone or more components of the BS, may maintain a mutual understanding ofthe set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection with a reference PDCCHcandidate selection rule that defines how the UE and the BS may updatethe set of linked PDCCH candidates or select a reference PDCCH candidatefor the set of linked PDCCH candidates, or both, if the UE drops a PDCCHcandidate of the set of linked PDCCH candidates. In some examples, forinstance, if the UE selects to monitor a subset of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates (such that the UE may drop or refrain from monitoringnon-selected PDCCH candidates), the UE and the BS may update the set oflinked PDCCH candidates to unlink the monitored PDCCH candidates fromthe unmonitored PDCCH candidates. In such examples, the UE and the BSmay select the reference PDCCH candidate for the updated set of linkedPDCCH candidates.

In some other examples in which the UE selects to monitor a subset ofthe set of linked PDCCH candidates, the UE and the BS may maintain theset of linked PDCCH candidates such that monitored PDCCH candidates andunmonitored PDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCH candidatesremain linked. In such examples, the UE and the BS may select thereference PDCCH candidate for the set of linked PDCCH candidates (suchthat the UE and the BS may select an unmonitored PDCCH candidate or amonitored PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate). In someother examples in which the UE selects to monitor a subset of the set oflinked PDCCH candidates, the UE may refrain from monitoring any PDCCHcandidate of the set of linked PDCCH candidates. In such examples, forinstance, if the UE drops any one of the set of linked PDCCH candidates,the UE may drop a remainder of the set of linked PDCCH candidates andmay instead monitor one or more PDCCH candidates outside of the set oflinked PDCCH candidates.

Particular implementations of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the followingpotential advantages. For example, the described techniques may beimplemented to maintain synchronization and mutual understanding betweenthe UE and the BS, or one or more components of the BS, with respect towhich PDCCH candidate of the set of linked PDCCH candidates is thereference PDCCH candidate for the set. As such, the UE and the BS maycommunicate in accordance with a same communication timeline (as the UEand the BS may define any scheduling information associated with the DCIfrom the same reference PDCCH candidate), which may increase alikelihood for successful communication between the UE and the BS, orbetween the UE and one or more components of the BS. Accordingly, the UEand the BS may achieve increased system capacity, greater spectralefficiency, higher data rates, higher reliability, and lower latency,among other benefits.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100that supports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. Thewireless communications system 100 may include one or more BSs 105, oneor more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some implementations, thewireless communications system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE)network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, or a NewRadio (NR) network. In some implementations, the wireless communicationssystem 100 may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable(for example, mission critical) communications, low latencycommunications, communications with low-cost and low-complexity devices,or any combination thereof.

The BSs 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form thewireless communications system 100 and may be devices in different formsor having different capabilities. The BSs 105 and the UEs 115 maywirelessly communicate via one or more communication links 125. Each BS105 may provide a geographic coverage area 110 over which the UEs 115and the BS 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. Thegeographic coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area overwhich a BS 105 and a UE 115 may support the communication of signalsaccording to one or more radio access technologies.

The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout a geographic coverage area 110of the wireless communications system 100, and each UE 115 may bestationary, or mobile, or both at different times. The UEs 115 may bedevices in different forms or having different capabilities. Someexample UEs 115 are illustrated in FIG. 1. The UEs 115 described hereinmay be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as otherUEs 115, the BSs 105, or network equipment (for example, core networknodes, relay devices, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, orother network equipment), as shown in FIG. 1.

The BSs 105 may communicate with the core network 130, or with oneanother, or both. For example, the BSs 105 may interface with the corenetwork 130 through one or more backhaul links 120 (for example, via anS1, N2, N3, or another interface). The BSs 105 may communicate with oneanother over the backhaul links 120 (for example, via an X2, Xn, orother interface) either directly (for example, directly between BSs105), or indirectly (for example, via core network 130), or both. Insome implementations, the backhaul links 120 may be or include one ormore wireless links.

One or more of the BSs 105 described herein may include or may bereferred to by a person having ordinary skill in the art as a basetransceiver station, a radio BS, an access point, a radio transceiver, aNodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation NodeB or a giga-NodeB (eitherof which may be referred to as a gNB), a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, orother suitable terminology.

A UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, awireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriberdevice, or some other suitable terminology, where the “device” also maybe referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, amongother examples. A UE 115 also may include or may be referred to as apersonal electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personalcomputer. In some implementations, a UE 115 may include or be referredto as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT)device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine typecommunications (MTC) device, among other examples, which may beimplemented in various objects such as appliances, or vehicles, meters,among other implementations.

The UEs 115 described herein may be able to communicate with varioustypes of devices, such as other UEs 115 that may sometimes act as relaysas well as the BSs 105 and the network equipment including macro eNBs orgNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay BSs, among otherimplementations, as shown in FIG. 1.

The UEs 115 and the BSs 105 may wirelessly communicate with one anothervia one or more communication links 125 over one or more carriers. Theterm “carrier” may refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resourceshaving a defined physical layer structure for supporting thecommunication links 125. For example, a carrier used for a communicationlink 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (forexample, a bandwidth part (BWP)) that is operated according to one ormore physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (forexample, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel maycarry acquisition signaling (for example, synchronization signals,system information), control signaling that coordinates operation forthe carrier, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communicationssystem 100 may support communication with a UE 115 using carrieraggregation or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may be configured withmultiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink componentcarriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrieraggregation may be used with both frequency division duplexing (FDD) andtime division duplexing (TDD) component carriers.

In some implementations (for example, in a carrier aggregationconfiguration), a carrier also may have acquisition signaling or controlsignaling that coordinates operations for other carriers. A carrier maybe associated with a frequency channel (for example, an evolveduniversal mobile telecommunication system terrestrial radio access(E-UTRA) absolute radio frequency channel number (EARFCN)) and may bepositioned according to a channel raster for discovery by the UEs 115. Acarrier may be operated in a standalone mode where initial acquisitionand connection may be conducted by the UEs 115 via the carrier, or thecarrier may be operated in a non-standalone mode where a connection isanchored using a different carrier (for example, of the same or adifferent radio access technology).

The communication links 125 shown in the wireless communications system100 may include uplink transmissions from a UE 115 to a BS 105, ordownlink transmissions from a BS 105 to a UE 115. Carriers may carrydownlink or uplink communications (for example, in an FDD mode) or maybe configured to carry downlink and uplink communications (for example,in a TDD mode).

Signal waveforms transmitted over a carrier may be made up of multiplesubcarriers (for example, using multi-carrier modulation (MCM)techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) ordiscrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a systememploying MCM techniques, a resource element may include one symbolperiod (for example, a duration of one modulation symbol) and onesubcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inverselyrelated. The quantity of bits carried by each resource element maydepend on the modulation scheme (for example, the order of themodulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both).Thus, the more resource elements that a UE 115 receives and the higherthe order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate may be forthe UE 115. A wireless communications resource may refer to acombination of a radio frequency spectrum resource, a time resource, anda spatial resource (for example, spatial layers or beams), and the useof multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate or dataintegrity for communications with a UE 115.

One or more numerologies for a carrier may be supported, where anumerology may include a subcarrier spacing (Δf) and a cyclic prefix. Acarrier may be divided into one or more BWPs having the same ordifferent numerologies. In some implementations, a UE 115 may beconfigured with multiple BWPs. In some implementations, a single BWP fora carrier may be active at a given time and communications for the UE115 may be restricted to one or more active BWPs.

The time intervals for the BSs 105 or the UEs 115 may be expressed inmultiples of a basic time unit which may, for example, refer to asampling period of T_(s)=1/(Δf_(max)·N_(f)) seconds, where Δf_(max) mayrepresent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and N_(f) mayrepresent the maximum supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size.Time intervals of a communications resource may be organized accordingto radio frames each having a specified duration (for example, 10milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system framenumber (SFN) (for example, ranging from 0 to 1023).

Each frame may include multiple consecutively numbered subframes orslots, and each subframe or slot may have the same duration. In someimplementations, a frame may be divided (for example, in the timedomain) into subframes, and each subframe may be further divided into anumber of slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable numberof slots, and the number of slots may depend on subcarrier spacing. Eachslot may include a number of symbol periods (for example, depending onthe length of the cyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period). Insome wireless communications systems 100, a slot may further be dividedinto multiple mini-slots containing one or more symbols. Excluding thecyclic prefix, each symbol period may contain one or more (for example,N_(f)) sampling periods. The duration of a symbol period may depend onthe subcarrier spacing or frequency band of operation.

A subframe, a slot, a mini-slot, or a symbol may be the smallestscheduling unit (for example, in the time domain) of the wirelesscommunications system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission timeinterval (TTI). In some implementations, the TTI duration (for example,the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally, oralternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wirelesscommunications system 100 may be dynamically selected (for example, inbursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs)).

Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to varioustechniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel maybe multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using one or more oftime division multiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency divisionmultiplexing (FDM) techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. A controlregion (for example, a control resource set (CORESET)) for a physicalcontrol channel may be defined by a number of symbol periods and mayextend across the system bandwidth or a subset of the system bandwidthof the carrier. One or more control regions (for example, CORESETs) maybe configured for a set of the UEs 115. For example, one or more of theUEs 115 may monitor or search control regions for control informationaccording to one or more search space sets, and each search space setmay include one or multiple control channel candidates in one or moreaggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. An aggregation levelfor a control channel candidate may refer to a number of control channelresources (for example, control channel elements (CCEs)) associated withencoded information for a control information format having a givenpayload size. Search space sets may include common search space setsconfigured for sending control information to multiple UEs 115 andUE-specific search space sets for sending control information to aspecific UE 115.

Each BS 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells,for example a macro cell, a small cell, a hot spot, or other types ofcells, or any combination thereof. The term “cell” may refer to alogical communication entity used for communication with a BS 105 (forexample, over a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier fordistinguishing neighboring cells (for example, a physical cellidentifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID), or others). In someimplementations, a cell also may refer to a geographic coverage area 110or a portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (for example, a sector)over which the logical communication entity operates. Such cells mayrange from smaller areas (for example, a structure, a subset ofstructure) to larger areas depending on various factors such as thecapabilities of the BS 105. For example, a cell may be or include abuilding, a subset of a building, or exterior spaces between oroverlapping with geographic coverage areas 110, among otherimplementations.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (forexample, several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted accessby the UEs 115 with service subscriptions with the network providersupporting the macro cell. A small cell may be associated with alower-powered BS 105, as compared with a macro cell, and a small cellmay operate in the same or different (for example, licensed, unlicensed)frequency bands as macro cells. Small cells may provide unrestrictedaccess to the UEs 115 with service subscriptions with the networkprovider or may provide restricted access to the UEs 115 having anassociation with the small cell (for example, the UEs 115 in a closedsubscriber group (CSG), the UEs 115 associated with users in a home oroffice). ABS 105 may support one or multiple cells and also may supportcommunications over the one or more cells using one or multiplecomponent carriers.

In some implementations, a carrier may support multiple cells, anddifferent cells may be configured according to different protocol types(for example, MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband(eMBB)) that may provide access for different types of devices.

In some implementations, a BS 105 may be movable and therefore providecommunication coverage for a moving geographic coverage area 110. Insome implementations, different geographic coverage areas 110 associatedwith different technologies may overlap, but the different geographiccoverage areas 110 may be supported by the same BS 105. In some otherimplementations, the overlapping geographic coverage areas 110associated with different technologies may be supported by different BSs105. The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, aheterogeneous network in which different types of the BSs 105 providecoverage for various geographic coverage areas 110 using the same ordifferent radio access technologies.

Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low cost or lowcomplexity devices and may provide for automated communication betweenmachines (for example, via Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication). M2Mcommunication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies thatallow devices to communicate with one another or a BS 105 without humanintervention. In some implementations, M2M communication or MTC mayinclude communications from devices that integrate sensors or meters tomeasure or capture information and relay such information to a centralserver or application program that makes use of the information orpresents the information to humans interacting with the applicationprogram. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or enableautomated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples ofapplications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventorymonitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcaremonitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological eventmonitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing,physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.

Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ operating modes that reducepower consumption, such as half-duplex communications (for example, amode that supports one-way communication via transmission or reception,but not transmission and reception simultaneously). In someimplementations, half-duplex communications may be performed at areduced peak rate. Other power conservation techniques for the UEs 115include entering a power saving deep sleep mode when not engaging inactive communications, operating over a limited bandwidth (for example,according to narrowband communications), or a combination of thesetechniques. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured for operationusing a narrowband protocol type that is associated with a definedportion or range (for example, set of subcarriers or resource blocks(RBs)) within a carrier, within a guard-band of a carrier, or outside ofa carrier.

The wireless communications system 100 may be configured to supportultra-reliable communications or low-latency communications, or variouscombinations thereof. For example, the wireless communications system100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latencycommunications (URLLC) or mission critical communications. The UEs 115may be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency, or criticalfunctions (for example, mission critical functions). Ultra-reliablecommunications may include private communication or group communicationand may be supported by one or more mission critical services such asmission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission critical video (MCVideo),or mission critical data (MCData). Support for mission criticalfunctions may include prioritization of services, and mission criticalservices may be used for public safety or general commercialapplications. The terms ultra-reliable, low-latency, mission critical,and ultra-reliable low-latency may be used interchangeably herein.

In some implementations, a UE 115 also may be able to communicatedirectly with other UEs 115 over a device-to-device (D2D) communicationlink 135 (for example, using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocol). Oneor more UEs 115 utilizing D2D communications may be within thegeographic coverage area 110 of a BS 105. Other UEs 115 in such a groupmay be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of a BS 105 or beotherwise unable to receive transmissions from a BS 105. In someimplementations, groups of the UEs 115 communicating via D2Dcommunications may utilize a one-to-many (1-M) system in which each UE115 transmits to every other UE 115 in the group. In someimplementations, a BS 105 facilitates the scheduling of resources forD2D communications. In some other implementations, D2D communicationsare carried out between the UEs 115 without the involvement of a BS 105.

In some implementations, the D2D communication link 135 may be anexample of a communication channel, such as a sidelink communicationchannel, between vehicles (for example, UEs 115). In someimplementations, vehicles may communicate using vehicle-to-everything(V2X) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, or somecombination of these. A vehicle may signal information related totraffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergencies, orany other information relevant to a V2X system. In some implementations,vehicles in a V2X system may communicate with roadside infrastructure,such as roadside units, or with the network via one or more networknodes (for example, BSs 105) using vehicle-to-network (V2N)communications, or with both.

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, accessauthorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and otheraccess, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC), which may include at leastone control plane entity that manages access and mobility (for example,a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility managementfunction (AMF)) and at least one user plane entity that routes packetsor interconnects to external networks (for example, a serving gateway(S-GW), a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user planefunction (UPF)). The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum(NAS) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer managementfor the UEs 115 served by the BSs 105 associated with the core network130. User IP packets may be transferred through the user plane entity,which may provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. Theuser plane entity may be connected to IP services 150 for one or morenetwork operators. The IP services 150 may include access to theInternet, Intranet(s), an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or aPacket-Switched Streaming Service.

Some of the network devices, such as a BS 105, may include subcomponentssuch as an access network entity 140, which may be an example of anaccess node controller (ANC). Each access network entity 140 maycommunicate with the UEs 115 through one or more other access networktransmission entities 145, which may be referred to as radio heads,smart radio heads, or transmission/reception points (TRPs). Each accessnetwork transmission entity 145 may include one or more antenna panels.In some configurations, various functions of each access network entity140 or BS 105 may be distributed across various network devices (forexample, radio heads and ANCs) or consolidated into a single networkdevice (for example, a BS 105).

The wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or morefrequency bands, sometimes in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300gigahertz (GHz). Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known asthe ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because thewavelengths range from approximately one decimeter to one meter inlength. The UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by buildings andenvironmental features, but the waves may penetrate structuressufficiently for a macro cell to provide service to the UEs 115 locatedindoors. The transmission of UHF waves may be associated with smallerantennas and shorter ranges (for example, less than 100 kilometers)compared to transmission using the smaller frequencies and longer wavesof the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portion of thespectrum below 300 MHz.

The wireless communications system 100 also may operate in a super highfrequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, alsoknown as the centimeter band, or in an extremely high frequency (EHF)region of the spectrum (for example, from 30 GHz to 300 GHz), also knownas the millimeter band. In some implementations, the wirelesscommunications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW)communications between the UEs 115 and the BSs 105, and EHF antennas ofthe respective devices may be smaller and more closely spaced than UHFantennas. In some implementations, this may facilitate use of antennaarrays within a device. The propagation of EHF transmissions, however,may be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter rangethan SHF or UHF transmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may beemployed across transmissions that use one or more different frequencyregions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions maydiffer by country or regulating body.

The wireless communications system 100 may utilize both licensed andunlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, the wirelesscommunications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access (LAA),LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in anunlicensed band such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical(ISM) band. When operating in unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands,devices such as the BSs 105 and the UEs 115 may employ carrier sensingfor collision detection and avoidance. In some implementations,operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a carrier aggregationconfiguration in conjunction with component carriers operating in alicensed band (for example, LAA). Operations in unlicensed spectrum mayinclude downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions,or D2D transmissions, among other transmissions.

ABS 105 or a UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which may beused to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity,multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming.The antennas of a BS 105 or a UE 115 may be located within one or moreantenna arrays or antenna panels, which may support MIMO operations ortransmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more BS antennas orantenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly, such as anantenna tower. In some implementations, antennas or antenna arraysassociated with a BS 105 may be located in diverse geographic locations.A BS 105 may have an antenna array with a number of rows and columns ofantenna ports that the BS 105 may use to support beamforming ofcommunications with a UE 115. Likewise, a UE 115 may have one or moreantenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations.Additionally, or alternatively, an antenna panel may support radiofrequency beamforming for a signal transmitted via an antenna port.

The BSs 105 or the UEs 115 may use MIMO communications to exploitmultipath signal propagation and increase the spectral efficiency bytransmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers.Such techniques may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiplesignals may, for example, be transmitted by the transmitting device viadifferent antennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, themultiple signals may be received by the receiving device via differentantennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiplesignals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carrybits associated with the same data stream (for example, the samecodeword) or different data streams (for example, different codewords).Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna portsused for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO techniques includesingle-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), where multiple spatial layers aretransmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-user MIMO(MU-MIMO), where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multipledevices.

Beamforming, which also may be referred to as spatial filtering,directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signalprocessing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or areceiving device (for example, a BS 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer anantenna beam (for example, a transmit beam, a receive beam) along aspatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device.Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated viaantenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagatingat particular orientations with respect to an antenna array experienceconstructive interference while others experience destructiveinterference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antennaelements may include a transmitting device or a receiving deviceapplying amplitude offsets, phase offsets, or both to signals carriedvia the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustmentsassociated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by abeamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (forexample, with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device orreceiving device, or with respect to some other orientation).

ABS 105 or a UE 115 may use beam sweeping techniques as part of beamforming operations. For example, a BS 105 may use multiple antennas orantenna arrays (for example, antenna panels) to conduct beamformingoperations for directional communications with a UE 115. Some signals(for example, synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selectionsignals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a BS 105multiple times in different directions. For example, the BS 105 maytransmit a signal according to different beamforming weight setsassociated with different directions of transmission. Transmissions indifferent beam directions may be used to identify (for example, by atransmitting device, such as a BS 105, or by a receiving device, such asa UE 115) a beam direction for later transmission or reception by the BS105.

Some signals, such as data signals associated with a particularreceiving device, may be transmitted by a BS 105 in a single beamdirection (for example, a direction associated with the receivingdevice, such as a UE 115). In some implementations, the beam directionassociated with transmissions along a single beam direction may bedetermined based on a signal that was transmitted in one or more beamdirections. For example, a UE 115 may receive one or more of the signalstransmitted by the BS 105 in different directions and may report to theBS 105 an indication of the signal that the UE 115 received with ahighest signal quality or an otherwise acceptable signal quality.

In some implementations, transmissions by a device (for example, by a BS105 or a UE 115) may be performed using multiple beam directions, andthe device may use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequencybeamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (for example,from a BS 105 to a UE 115). The UE 115 may report feedback thatindicates precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and thefeedback may correspond to a configured number of beams across a systembandwidth or one or more sub-bands. The BS 105 may transmit a referencesignal (for example, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channelstate information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS)), which may beprecoded or unprecoded. The UE 115 may provide feedback for beamselection, which may be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) orcodebook-based feedback (for example, a multi-panel type codebook, alinear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook).Although these techniques are described with reference to signalstransmitted in one or more directions by a BS 105, a UE 115 may employsimilar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in differentdirections (for example, for identifying a beam direction for subsequenttransmission or reception by the UE 115) or for transmitting a signal ina single direction (for example, for transmitting data to a receivingdevice).

The wireless communications system 100 may be a packet-based networkthat operates according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane,communications at the bearer or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)layer may be IP-based. A Radio Link Control (RLC) layer may performpacket segmentation and reassembly to communicate over logical channels.A Medium Access Control (MAC) layer may perform priority handling andmultiplexing of logical channels into transport channels. The MAC layeralso may use error detection techniques, error correction techniques, orboth to support retransmissions at the MAC layer to improve linkefficiency. In the control plane, the Radio Resource Control (RRC)protocol layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenanceof an RRC connection between a UE 115 and a BS 105 or a core network 130supporting radio bearers for user plane data. At the physical layer,transport channels may be mapped to physical channels.

The UEs 115 and the BSs 105 may support retransmissions of data toincrease the likelihood that data is received successfully. Hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is one technique for increasingthe likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link125. HARQ may include a combination of error detection (for example,using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), forward error correction (FEC),and retransmission (for example, automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQmay improve throughput at the MAC layer in poor radio conditions (forexample, low signal-to-noise conditions). In some implementations, adevice may support same-slot HARQ feedback, where the device may provideHARQ feedback in a specific slot for data received in a previous symbolin the slot. In some other implementations, the device may provide HARQfeedback in a subsequent slot, or according to some other time interval.

In some implementations, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one or morecomponents of the BS 105, may support PDCCH repetition such that the BS105 may transmit multiple instances of a same control information (suchas a same DCI or a same PDCCH information) over multiple PDCCHcandidates. A PDCCH candidate may refer to a resource location (forexample, a time and frequency resource location) over which the BS 105may transmit control information to the UE 115 and, in some examples,the BS 105 may “link” multiple PDCCH candidates together to indicate, tothe UE 115, that the linked PDCCH candidates carry repeats of the samecontrol information. Accordingly, the UE 115 may monitor for the linkedPDCCH candidates to receive the control information from the BS 105. Insome implementations, the BS 105 may link PDCCH candidates of differentsearch space (SS) sets or of different monitoring occasions as a resultof a linking of the different SS sets or the different monitoringoccasions (for example, if two SS sets or two monitoring occasions arelinked, PDCCH candidates within such two linked SS sets or such twolinked monitoring occasions also may be linked).

In some implementations, however, the UE 115 may select to monitor asubset of the linked PDCCH candidates. For instance, in examples inwhich the linked PDCCH candidates includes a first PDCCH candidate and asecond PDCCH candidate, the UE 115 may, in some implementations, selectto monitor the second PDCCH candidate (and to drop the first PDCCHcandidate from a set of monitored PDCCH candidates) as a result of oraccording to a resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate. In such implementations in which the UE 115 selects tomonitor the second PDCCH candidate (and to drop the first PDCCHcandidate), the UE 115 and the BS 105 may employ a mutually understoodreference selection rule to select one of the first PDCCH candidate orthe second PDCCH candidate as a reference (for example, a referencePDCCH candidate) for the linked PDCCH candidates.

In some implementations, for example, the selecting by the UE 115 tomonitor for the second PDCCH candidate (and to drop the first PDCCHcandidate) may trigger the UE 115 and the BS 105, or one or morecomponents of the BS 105, to employ the reference selection rule. As aresult of employing the reference selection rule, the UE 115 and the BS105 may both select a same reference for the linked PDCCH candidates andmay communicate with each other in accordance with a communicationtimeline that is defined as a function of a time domain property or afrequency domain property of the selected reference.

As described herein, a BS 105 may include components that are located ata single physical location or components located at various physicallocations. In examples in which the BS 105 includes components that arelocated at various physical locations, the various components may eachperform various functions such that, collectively, the variouscomponents may achieve functionality that is similar to a BS 105 that islocated at a single physical location. As such, a BS 105 describedherein may equivalently refer to a standalone BS 105 or a BS 105including components that are located at various physical locations. Insome implementations, such a BS 105 including components that arelocated at various physical locations may be referred to as or may beassociated with a disaggregated radio access network (RAN) architecture,such as an Open RAN (O-RAN) or Virtualized RAN (VRAN) architecture.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example signaling diagram 200 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The signalingdiagram 200 may implement or be implemented to realize aspects of thewireless communications system 100. For example, the signaling diagram200 may include a UE 115-a and a BS 105-a (or one or more components ofthe BS 105-a), which may be examples of corresponding devices describedherein, including with reference to FIG. 1. In some examples, the UE115-a and the BS 105-a may employ techniques for maintaining a commonunderstanding of a set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 and for selectinga reference PDCCH candidate for the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210in examples in which the UE 115-a selects to monitor a subset of the setof linked PDCCH candidates 210.

For example, the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a may support PDCCH repetitionand, as such, the BS 105-a may transmit a same DCI to the UE 115-a overtwo or more PDCCH candidates 210. In such examples, the BS 105-a maytransmit the same DCI, which may include information relating to aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission 215, over both aPDCCH candidate 210-a and a PDCCH candidate 210-b. In some aspects, theBS 105-a may explicitly link the PDCCH candidate 210-a with the PDCCHcandidate 210-b (for example, the BS 105-a may transmit an indication ofthe linking of the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-bto the UE 115-a) such that the UE 115-a may be aware of or otherwiserecognize that the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-bbelong to a set of linked PDCCH candidates 210. As such, the UE 115-amay know or otherwise be aware of the linking of the PDCCH candidate210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-b before decoding the PDCCH candidates210.

In some aspects, to convey the same DCI over the linked set of PDCCHcandidates 210 (both the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate210-b), the BS 105-a may repeat a same set of coded bits in each of thePDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-b. Further, the BS105-a may transmit each of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 (eachrepetition of the DCI) using a same number of control channel elements(CCEs). Accordingly, each linked PDCCH candidate 210 may correspond to asame DCI payload. Further, in some examples, the BS 105-a may link PDCCHcandidates 210 in different SS sets (which may be associated withcorresponding control resource sets (CORESETs)) for repetition and, insuch examples, the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-bmay be located in different SS sets (and may correspond to or otherwisebe associated with different CORESETs).

If the BS 105-a transmits a same DCI over the PDCCH candidate 210-a andthe PDCCH candidate 210-b, the UE 115-a may decode the DCI in the PDCCHcandidate 210-a, may decode the DCI in the PDCCH candidate 210-b, or maydecode the DCI in both the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate210-b. In examples in which the UE 115-a decodes the DCI carried by boththe PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-b, the UE 115-amay, in some examples, employ a soft-combining technique as part of adecoding procedure for the DCI. For example, the UE 115-a maysoft-combine the DCI received over the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the DCIreceived over the PDCCH candidate 210-b to obtain a combination of thetwo instances of the DCI and may decode the combination.

In some examples, such as in examples in which the UE 115-a incorrectlyreceives a portion of the DCI over the PDCCH candidate 210-a or thePDCCH candidate 210-b, or both, the UE 115-a may obtain a more completeor accurate version of the DCI as a result of employing thesoft-combining technique. For instance, the UE 115-a may receive a firstportion of the DCI over the PDCCH candidate 210-a and a second portionof the DCI over the PDCCH candidate 210-b (even though the BS 105-a maytransmit the full DCI over both the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCHcandidate 210-b), and may obtain a more complete version of the DCI as aresult of combining the first portion and the second portion. Such afirst portion of the DCI and a second portion of the DCI may includedifferent information or may include at least partially overlappinginformation. The UE 115-a may decode the combination of the twoinstances of the DCI and, as such, may experience a greater likelihoodfor successfully decoding the DCI and receiving the PDSCH transmission215.

In examples in which the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a employ PDCCHrepetition, the UE 115-a may define any scheduling information orscheduling restrictions obtained from (or that are otherwise relevantto) the DCI based on a function of resources of the detected DCI. Inother words, the scheduling information or scheduling restrictionsassociated with the DCI may be a function of a time domain property or afrequency domain property of the detected DCI. Such a detected DCI mayrefer to DCI that is actually decoded by the UE 115-a and, if the UE115-a receives the DCI over multiple PDCCH candidates 210, the UE 115-amay select a PDCCH candidate from the PDCCH candidates 210 over whichthe UE 115-a monitors as a reference PDCCH candidate. Accordingly, theUE 115-a may use a time domain property or a frequency domain propertyof the selected reference PDCCH candidate to define the schedulinginformation or scheduling restrictions associated with the DCI.

Various procedures may rely on the selection of the reference PDCCHcandidate and the use of the reference PDCCH candidate to define thescheduling information or scheduling restrictions associated with theDCI. For example, in a first procedure, the UE 115-a may use a startingCCE index and a quantity of CCEs in a CORESET of the reference PDCCHcandidate to identify or otherwise determine a physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) resource for HARQ-ACK feedback if a corresponding PUCCHresource set has a size (a quantity of PUCCH resources within the PUCCHresource set) larger than eight. In some examples, for instance, the UE115-a may identify or otherwise determine the PUCCH resource accordingto a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) field of three bits (which may thusindicate or differentiate between up to eight PUCCH resources). As such,for a PUCCH resource set having a size larger than eight, the UE 115-amay use the starting CCE index and the number of CCEs in the CORSET ofthe reference PDCCH (or of a scheduling PDCCH in examples in which theBS 105-a transmits a single instance of the DCI) as supplementary “bits”or degrees of freedom to identify the PUCCH resource. In this firstprocedure, the UE 115-a may select the reference PDCCH candidate 210 inaccordance with which of the monitored PDCCH candidates 210 has a lowestCORESET identifier (ID) or, if the monitored PDCCH candidates 210 have asame CORESET ID, in accordance with which of the monitored PDCCHcandidates 210 has a lowest SS ID.

Additionally, or alternatively, in a second procedure, the UE 115-a mayuse a starting symbol of the reference PDCCH candidate to define inwhich symbols the UE 115-a expects to receive a PDSCH transmission, suchas the PDSCH transmission 215, scheduled by the DCI carried by thelinked PDCCH candidates 210. For example, if a PDSCH with mapping Type Bis scheduled by DCI in PDCCH candidates 210 that are linked forrepetition, the UE 115-a may not expect that a first (for example,initial) symbol of the PDSCH to start earlier than the starting symbolof the reference PDCCH candidate. In other words, if the UE 115-areceives a configuration of ReferenceofSLIV-ForDCIFormat1_2 and if theUE 115-a receives the PDSCH scheduled by a DCI format 1_2 with CRCscrambled by C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI, or CS-RNTI with K0=0, the UE 115-a andthe BS 105-a may define a starting symbol S relative to the startingsymbol S0 of the reference PDCCH candidate. In this second procedure,the UE 115-a may select the reference PDCCH candidate in accordance withwhich of the monitored PDCCH candidates 210 has a later (or latest)starting symbol relative to a remainder of the monitored PDCCHcandidates 210.

Additionally, or alternatively, in a third procedure, the UE 115-a maydefine a scheduling offset and a quasi-colocation (QCL) timer relativeto the reference PDCCH candidate and the UE 115-a may select a QCLassumption or relation for a scheduled PDSCH or CSI-RS in accordancewith whether the scheduling offset is less than or greater than the QCLtimer. Such use of the reference PDCCH candidate for selecting a QCLassumption for a scheduled PDSCH or CSI-RS is illustrated by anddescribed in more detail with reference to FIG. 3. Additionally, oralternatively, in a fourth procedure, the UE 115-a may use a last symbolof the reference PDCCH candidate to define a physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH) processing timeline (which may be referred to as an N2timeline) and a CSI computation timeline (which may be referred to as aZ timeline). In this fourth procedure, the UE 115-a may select thereference PDCCH candidate in accordance with which of the monitoredPDCCH candidates 210 is a last PDCCH candidate 210 (for example, a lastPDCCH repetition of the DCI).

Additionally, or alternatively, in a fifth procedure, the UE 115-a maydefine a downlink assignment index (DAI) relative to a monitoringoccasion of the reference PDCCH candidate. In this fifth procedure, theUE 115-a may select the reference PDCCH candidate according to which ofthe monitored PDCCH candidates 210 is an earlier (or earliest) PDCCHcandidate 210 relative to a remainder of the monitored PDCCH candidates210. Such use of the reference PDCCH candidate for setting a DAI isillustrated by and described in more detail with reference to FIG. 4.

Additionally, or alternatively, in a sixth procedure, the UE 115-a mayselect a QCL assumption for a scheduled PDSCH (such as the PDSCHtransmission 215) based on a CORESET with a lower ID among the CORESETsassociated with the linked PDCCH candidates 210 if a transmissionconfiguration indicator (TCI) field is absent from the DCI and if thescheduling offset (as measured from the reference PDCCH candidate) isequal to or greater than a time duration of a configuredtimeDurationForQCL parameter. In other words, if the PDSCH is scheduledby DCI that is carried by the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210, if theTCI field is absent from the DCI, and if the scheduling offset betweenthe reference PDCCH candidate and the scheduled PDSCH is equal to orgreater than timeDurationForQCL, the UE 115-a may select the QCLassumption for the PDSCH based on the CORESET having the lowest ID ofCORESETs associated with the linked PDCCH candidates 210. In this sixthprocedure, the UE 115-a may select, as the reference PDCCH candidate,the PDCCH candidate 210 from the monitored PDCCH candidates 210associated with the CORESET having the lowest ID.

Additionally, or alternatively, in a seventh procedure, the UE 115-a mayrate-match a PDSCH (such as the PDSCH transmission 215) scheduled by theDCI carried over the linked PDCCH candidates 210 around the linked PDCCHcandidates 210 if the PDSCH has a starting symbol that is the same as orlater than a first symbol of the reference PDCCH candidate. In thisseventh procedure, the UE 115-a may select the reference PDCCH candidatein accordance with which of the monitored PDCCH candidates 210 has alater (or latest) starting symbol relative to a remainder of themonitored PDCCH candidates 210. Such a rate-matching of the PDSCH aroundthe set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 if the PDSCH has a startingsymbol that is the same as or later than the first symbol of thereference PDCCH candidate is illustrated by and described in more detailwith reference to FIG. 5.

As such, for each or for any combination of such various procedures, theUE 115-a and the BS 105-a may define a communication timeline inaccordance with (or with reference to) the selected reference PDCCHcandidate. In some examples, however, ambiguity may potentially arisedue to the BS 105-a lacking awareness or insight into which PDCCHcandidates 210 are actually decoded by the UE 115-a and a lack of aprocedure or rule for reference PDCCH candidate selection in examples inwhich the UE 115-a drops one or more of the linked PDCCH candidates 210.For example, as described in each of the various procedures that rely onor use a reference PDCCH candidate, the UE 115-a may define thescheduling information or restrictions that are obtained from or basedon the DCI as a function of resources occupied by the reference PDCCHcandidate, which the UE 115-a may select from PDCCH candidates 210 thatare actually monitored by the UE 115-a. In other words, the schedulinginformation or restrictions may be a function of the resources of thedetected DCI (for example, the DCI decoded by the UE 115-a). As such, ifthe UE 115-a drops one of the linked PDCCH candidates 210, ambiguity orinconsistency may arise between the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a as towhich PDCCH candidate 210 is the reference PDCCH candidate if the BS105-a is unaware of which PDCCH candidates 210 the UE 115-a drops and ifthe UE 115-a and the BS 105-a lack a mutually understood procedure foraccounting for such PDCCH candidate dropping.

The UE 115-a may drop (from a set of monitored PDCCH candidates 210) aPDCCH candidate 210 in various scenarios. For example, the UE 115-a maydrop a PDCCH candidate 210 as a result of PDCCH overbooking, ifresources of the PDCCH candidate 210 overlap with higher prioritysignaling (such as a synchronization signal block (SSB)), if resourcesof the PDCCH candidate 210 overlap with resources that are configuredfor rate-matching, if symbols of the PDCCH candidate 210 are configuredor otherwise selected as uplink symbols, or based on a QCLprioritization (such as a QCL-Type D prioritization).

In some examples, for instance, the UE 115-a may have (according to a UEcapability) a monitored PDCCH candidate limit (such as a blind decodinglimit) or a CCE limit for PDCCH monitoring within a slot. In someaspects, such as in aspects in which the UE 115-a uses four downlinkserving cells or fewer, the UE 115-a may have separate PDCCH candidateor CCE limits per downlink serving cell according to a basic unit of alimit for one component carrier. Such limits for monitored PDCCHcandidates and non-overlapping CCEs may be fixed (for example,statically configured) and depend on a subcarrier spacing (SCS), asshown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. In such aspects, the UE 115-a mayfeature such a per downlink serving cell limit instead of a total limit(for example, an upper limit across all downlink serving cells).

TABLE 1 Maximum Number of Monitored PDCCH Candidates Per Slot for aDownlink BWP with SCS Configuration μ ∈ {0, 1, 2, 3} for a SingleServing Cell Maximum number of monitored PDCCH candidates μ per slot andper serving cell 0 44 1 36 2 22 3 20

TABLE 2 Maximum Number of Non-overlapped CCEs Per Slot for a DownlinkBWP with SCS Configuration μ ∈ {0, 1, 2, 3} for a Single Serving CellMaximum number of non-overlapped CCEs μ per slot and per serving cell 056 1 56 2 48 3 32

In some other aspects, such as in aspects in which the UE 115-a usesmore than four downlink serving cells, the UE 115-a may indicate a totalcapability or a total limit (for example, via a pdcch-BlindDetectionCAparameter). In some examples, the total capability or the total limitfor monitored PDCCH candidates 210 or non-overlapping CCEs may be aninteger larger than or equal to four. The UE 115-a may define the totallimit across downlink serving cells with a same SCS based on thepdcch-BlindDetectionCA parameter, a number of downlink componentcarriers, and a total number of component carriers. In such aspects inwhich the UE 115-a uses more than four downlink serving cells, the UE115-a may define a per-scheduled cell limit as a minimum between a totallimit of the UE 115-a and the basic unit of the limit as shown in Tables1 and 2.

As a result of such limits of the UE 115-a for PDCCH monitoring, the UE115-a may monitor a number of PDCCH candidates 210 up to the limit ofthe UE 115-a and may thereafter drop any other PDCCH candidates 210 forwhich the UE 115-a is configured to monitor. For example, in somedeployments, the BS 105-a (for example, the network) may configure theUE 115-a with a number of PDCCH candidates 210 that may result in anexceeding of a limit (for one or both of blind decoding of PDCCHcandidates or CCEs) for a primary cell of the UE 115-a and, as such, theUE 115-a may monitor configured PDCCH candidates 210 and CCEs up to thelimit of the UE 115-a. In some aspects, the BS 105-a may refrain fromoverbooking the UE 115-a for any secondary cells and the overbooking maybe with respect to the per-scheduled cell limit of the primary cell.

In some examples, the UE 115-a may allocate PDCCH candidates 210 andCCEs for monitoring in accordance with a configured allocation rule. Aspart of such a configured allocation rule, the UE 115-a may include, ina monitored set of PDCCH candidates 210, PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEscorresponding to common search space (CSS) sets (as CSS sets may beassociated with a relatively higher priority and, as such, the UE 115-amay refrain from dropping PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs corresponding toCSS sets). The UE 115-a, upon including the PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEscorresponding to the CSS sets, may calculate a remaining limit foradditional PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs and may allocate additionalPDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs corresponding to UE-specific search space(USS) sets starting with a USS set having a lowest index and iterativelyallocating PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs corresponding to USS sets havingprogressively higher indexes until the decoding limit of the UE 115-a isreached.

In other words, for example, the UE 115-a may allocate a first number ofPDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs corresponding to the USS set having thelowest index (if that number is less than the remaining limit afterincluding the PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs corresponding to the CSSsets), calculate a second remaining limit after including the firstnumber of PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs, and, if the second remaininglimit is larger than a second number of PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEscorresponding to a USS set having a next lowest index, the UE 115-a mayadditionally allocate the second number of PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEsfor monitoring and calculate a third remaining limit as a result ofsubtracting the second number of PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs from thesecond remaining limit. The UE 115-a may similarly go on to a nextnumber of PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs corresponding to a next USS setand repeat until a quantity of PDCCH candidates 210 or CCEs for thatnext USS set exceeds a remaining limit of available PDCCH candidates 210or CCEs.

Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-a may drop a PDCCH candidate210 (from a set of monitored PDCCH candidates 210) if the PDCCHcandidate 210 overlaps with higher priority signaling, such as an SSB.For example, if the UE 115-a receives an ssb-PositionInBurst parameterin ServingCellConfigCommon for a serving cell, refrains from monitoringPDCCH candidates in a Type0-PDCCH CSS set, and at least one resourceelement for the PDCCH candidate 210 overlaps with at least one resourceelement of a candidate SSB or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blockcorresponding to an SSB or PBCH block index provided by thessb-PositionInBurst parameter in the ServingCellConfigCommon, the UE115-a may refrain from monitoring the PDCCH candidate 210.

Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-a may refrain from monitoringfor a PDCCH candidate 210 if the PDCCH candidate 210 occupies resourcesthat at least partially overlap with resources that are configured forrate-matching. For example, a first set of resources may be configuredsuch that the first set of resources are unavailable for PDSCH receptionand, in examples in which the UE 115-a receives a PDSCH transmissionover resources that at least partially overlap with the first set ofresources, the UE 115-a (and the BS 105-a) may rate-match the PDSCHtransmission around the first set of resources. In examples in which aPDCCH candidate occupies resources that at least partially overlap withthe first set of resources, however, the UE 115-a may refrain frommonitoring or drop the PDCCH candidate 210.

In some aspects, the UE 115-a may receive an indication of such a firstset of resources (around which PDSCH is rate-matched and PDCCH isdropped) from the BS 105-a. For example, the UE 115-a may receive aresourceBlocks parameter and a symbolslnResourceBlock parameter in aRateMatchPattern parameter or may (additionally) receive aperiodicityAndPattern parameter in the RateMatchPattern parameterindicating the first set of resources. In some examples, the first setof resources may include one or more resource blocks in one or moresymbols of a slot that are unavailable for PDSCH reception. Accordingly,the UE 115-a may refrain from monitoring the PDCCH candidate 210 if thePDCCH candidate 210 is mapped to one or more resource elements thatoverlap with resource elements of any resource block of the one or moreresource blocks in the one or more symbols of the first set ofresources.

Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-a may refrain from monitoringfor a PDCCH candidate 210 if the PDCCH candidate 210 overlaps withresources (such as symbols) that are designated for uplink communicationat the UE 115-a. Such a conflict between uplink signaling and downlinksignaling may occur for various reasons, including as a result of asemi-static TDD configuration, as a result of an overlapping ofresources of the PDCCH candidate with resources of a physical randomaccess channel (PRACH) occasion, as a result of a dynamic TDDconfiguration, or as a result of a dynamic grant scheduling an uplinkchannel, among other examples.

In some examples, for instance, the UE 115-a may receive a semi-staticTDD configuration from the BS 105-a indicating a set of symbols of aslot that are configured as uplink symbols and the UE may refrain fromreceiving a downlink transmission (such as a PDCCH candidate 210, aPDSCH transmission, or a CSI-RS) if the downlink transmission overlaps,at least partially, with the set of symbols of the slot that areconfigured as uplink symbols. In some aspects, the UE 115-a may receivethe semi-static TDD configuration indicating the set of symbols that areconfigured as uplink symbols via a tdd-UL-DLConfigurationCommonparameter or a tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated parameter.

In some other examples, the UE 115-a may refrain from monitoring for aPDCCH candidate 210 if the PDCCH candidate 210 overlaps with a set ofsymbols of a slot that correspond to a valid PRACH occasion or overlapswith a set of symbols before the valid PRACH occasion. Further, the UE115-a may similarly refrain from receiving a PDSCH transmission or aCSI-RS in the slot if reception of the PDSCH transmission or the CSI-RSwould overlap with any symbol from the set of symbols corresponding tothe valid PRACH occasion or the set of symbols before the valid PRACHoccasion.

In some other examples, the UE 115-a may refrain from monitoring for aPDCCH candidate 210 as a result of some indication via a slot formatindicator (SFI) index field. For example, the UE 115-a may receive anindication of a set of symbols of a slot that are configured as flexiblesymbols via a tdd-UL-DLConfigurationCommon parameter or atdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated parameter or via DCI (such as a DCIformat 2_0) providing a format for the slot using a slot format valueother than 255. In such examples, if one or more symbols from the set ofsymbols that are configured as flexible symbols are symbols in a CORESETconfigured to the UE for PDCCH monitoring, the UE 115-a may receive aPDCCH candidate 210 in the CORESET if an SFI-index field value in theDCI (such as the DCI format 2_0) indicates that the one or more symbolsare downlink symbols. In other words, the UE 115-a may refrain frommonitoring for a PDCCH candidate 210 if the UE 115-a detects an SFI inDCI format 2_0 and if the SFI is absent of an indication for downlinksymbols.

In some other examples, the UE 115-a may refrain from monitoring for aPDCCH candidate 210 if the UE 115-a receives a dynamic grant schedulingan uplink transmission over at least partially overlapping resources asthe PDCCH candidate 210. For example, for a dynamic grant scheduling atransmission over an uplink channel or an uplink reference signal, ifthe UE 115-a receives a configuration from higher layers to receive adownlink transmission (such as a PDCCH, a PDSCH, a CSI-RS, or a downlinkpositioning reference signal (PRS)) in a set of symbols of a slot, theUE 115-a may refrain from receiving the downlink transmission if the UE115-a detects a DCI format scheduling the UE 115-a to transmit an uplinktransmission (such as a PUSCH, a PUCCH, a PRACH, or an SRS) in at leastone symbol of the set of symbols of the slot configured for the downlinktransmission.

Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-a may refrain from monitoringa PDCCH candidate 210 as a result of or in connection with a QCLprioritization (such as a QCL-Type D prioritization). For example, theUE 115-a may be unable to receive multiple beams (having differentQCL-TypeD properties) simultaneously on a same serving cell or onmultiple serving cells in a same frequency band in a carrier aggregationoperation mode. In some aspects, the UE 115-a may feature aconfiguration of one or more priority rules for PDCCH monitoring tosupport such avoidance of the UE 115-a to receive multiple beamssimultaneously. For instance, in some examples, if the UE 115-a featuresa configuration for single cell operation or for operation with carrieraggregation in a same frequency band and if the UE 115-a monitors PDCCHcandidates 210 in overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions in multipleCORESETs that have a same or different QCL-TypeD properties on one ormore active downlink BWPs of one or more cells, the UE 115-a may monitorPDCCH candidates 210 in a first CORESET, and any other CORESET from themultiple CORESETs having same QCL-TypeD properties as the first CORESET,on the active downlink BWP of a cell from the one or more cells.

In such examples, the first CORESET may correspond to a CSS set with alowest index in the cell with the lowest index containing CSS, if any,or, alternatively, the first CORESET may correspond to a USS set with alowest index in the cell with a lowest index. In some aspects, the UE115-a may identify, select, or determine the lowest USS set index overall USS sets with at least one PDCCH candidate 210 in overlapping PDCCHmonitoring occasions. In other words, the UE 115-a may select a CORESETin accordance with a priority rule and the UE 115-a may monitor forPDCCH candidates 210 in the CORESET and in any CORESET that has the sameQCL-TypeD properties as the selected CORESET. Such a priority rule maybe with respect to, firstly, whether the CORESET corresponds to a CSSset (associated with a relatively higher priority) or a USS set(associated with a relatively lower priority) and, secondly, tocomponent carrier or serving cell index (in which a lowest index has ahighest priority) and, thirdly, to SS set index (in which a lowest indexhas a highest priority).

As such, the UE 115-a may potentially refrain from monitoring for one ormore PDCCH candidates 210 of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 and,in some examples, such a refrainment from monitoring one or more of theset of linked PDCCH candidates 210 may result in ambiguity between theUE 115-a and the BS 105-a as to which PDCCH candidates 210 each of theUE 115-a and the BS 105-a recognize as linked PDCCH candidates 210 andas to how a reference PDCCH candidate is selected from the linked PDCCHcandidates 210. For example, if the UE 115-a drops a first PDCCHcandidate 210 of the linked PDCCH candidates 210, the UE 115-a and theBS 105-a may lack a mutually understood procedure for managing thelinked PDCCH candidates 210 and, likewise, may lack a mutuallyunderstood procedure for selecting the reference PDCCH candidate for thelinked PDCCH candidates 210.

Accordingly, in some implementations, the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a mayemploy one or more mutually understood rules or procedures for managinga set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 and for selecting a reference PDCCHcandidate for the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 in examples inwhich the UE 115-a drops (or refrains from monitoring) at least onePDCCH candidate 210 of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210. In someaspects, such a specifying of a behavior for the UE 115-a and the BS105-a in accordance with the one or more mutually understood rules orprocedures may reduce ambiguity between the UE 115-a and the BS 105-aand, in turn, increase a likelihood for successful communication betweenthe UE 115-a and the BS 105-a.

In some examples, for instance, the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a may employa mutually understood PDCCH candidate linking procedure to update thelinking between the linked PDCCH candidates 210 as a result of adropping of one or more of the linked PDCCH candidates 210. Such PDCCHcandidate linking procedures are illustrated by and described in moredetail with reference to FIGS. 6-8. In some other examples, the UE 115-aand the BS 105-a may employ a mutually understood PDCCH candidatemonitoring procedure to update for which PDCCH candidates 210 the UE115-a monitors as a result of dropping one PDCCH candidate 210 of theset of linked PDCCH candidates 210. Such PDCCH candidate monitoringprocedures are illustrated by and described in more detail withreference to FIGS. 9-11.

In some other examples, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may employ a mutuallyunderstood rule for maintaining the linking of the linked PDCCHcandidates 210 and for selecting a reference PDCCH candidate from theset of linked PDCCH candidates 210 irrespective of a dropping of one ormore of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 (even if the referencePDCCH candidate is dropped). As such, the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a maykeep the PDCCH candidate 210-a and the PDCCH candidate 210-b linked evenif the UE 115-a refrains from monitoring one of the PDCCH candidate210-a or the PDCCH candidate 210-b. In such examples, the UE 115-a andthe BS 105-a may employ a reference selection rule to select thereference PDCCH candidate for the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210regardless of which of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 aremonitored or unmonitored.

In some aspects, the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a may employ such aselecting of the reference PDCCH candidate from the set of linked PDCCHcandidates 210 including both monitored and unmonitored PDCCH candidates210 to reduce a potential for ambiguity resulting from missed signaling.For example, in some scenarios, the UE 115-a may drop a PDCCH candidate210 as a result of receiving DCI (such as DCI indicating uplink symbolsor downlink symbols, or both) and, if the UE 115-a misses the DCI, theUE 115-a may monitor for the PDCCH candidate 210 and keep the PDCCHcandidate 210 within the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210. The BS105-a, on the other hand (and if employing a procedure that would updatethe linking of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 as a result of adropped PDCCH candidate 210), may remove the dropped PDCCH candidate 210from the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210 in accordance with the DCIsignaling. As such, the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a may have differentunderstandings of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210, which maypotentially result in the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a selecting adifferent reference PDCCH candidate. Thus, if the UE 115-a and the BS105-a maintain the linking of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 210regardless of PDCCH dropping, the UE 115-a and the BS 105-a may avoidsuch potential ambiguity resulting from missed signaling.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example communication timeline 300 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The communicationtimeline 300 may implement or be implemented to realize aspects of thewireless communications system 100 or the signaling diagram 200. Forexample, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one or more components of a BS 105,(which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein,including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) may communicate in accordancewith the communication timeline 300 and may select a QCL assumption fora PDSCH transmission 310 (or a CSI-RS) based on a timer measured from areference PDCCH candidate for a set of linked PDCCH candidates 305.

For example, the UE 115 may receive a configuration of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates 305 within a slot 325 including a PDCCH candidate 305-aand a PDCCH candidate 305-b, and each of the PDCCH candidate 305-a andthe PDCCH candidate 305-b may include or convey a same DCI or PDCCHinformation. In some examples, the set of linked PDCCH candidates 305may include or convey scheduling information associated with the PDSCHtransmission 310 or a CSI-RS. In such examples in which the set oflinked PDCCH candidates 305 schedule the PDSCH transmission 310 or theCSI-RS, the UE 115 may select or otherwise determine the QCL assumptionfor the PDSCH transmission 310 or the CSI-RS based on atimeDurationForQCL timer 315 and a time offset 320 as measured from areference PDCCH candidate. In some aspects, the UE 115 and the BS 105may select a later PDCCH candidate 305 (such as the PDCCH candidate305-a) as the reference PDCCH candidate and, likewise, may measure thetimeDurationForQCL timer 315 and the time offset 320-a relative to thePDCCH candidate 305-a.

In some examples, to select the QCL assumption for the PDSCHtransmission 310, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may measure the time offset320-a between the PDCCH candidate 305-a and the PDSCH transmission 310and may determine whether the measured time offset 320-a is less than orgreater than the timeDurationForQCL timer 315 (as also measured from thePDCCH candidate 305-a as a result of selecting the PDCCH candidate 305-aas the reference PDCCH candidate). For example, if the time offset 320-ais less than the timeDurationForQCL timer 315, the UE 115 and the BS 105may select and use a default QCL assumption, such as a default beam,(for QCL-TypeD) for the PDSCH transmission 310.

In some scenarios, however, the UE 115 may refrain from monitoring oneof the linked PDCCH candidates 305 and, as such, the UE 115 and the BS105 may potentially select different PDCCH candidates 305 as a referencePDCCH candidate. For example, if the UE 115 drops the PDCCH candidate305-a from a set of monitored PDCCH candidates 305, the UE 115 mayselect the PDCCH candidate 305-b as the reference PDCCH candidate (asthe PDCCH candidate 305-b includes the DCI that is actually decoded bythe UE 115) while the BS 105 may still select the PDCCH candidate 305-aas the reference PDCCH candidate. As a result of such ambiguity betweenthe UE 115 and the BS 105, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may potentiallyselect different QCL assumptions for the PDSCH transmission 310. Forexample, the UE 115 may select a first QCL assumption for the PDSCHtransmission 310 as a result of determining that a time offset 320-bbetween the PDCCH candidate 305-b and the PDSCH transmission 310 isgreater than the timeDurationForQCL timer 315 (as measured from thePDCCH candidate 305-b) while the BS 105 may select a second (anddifferent) QCL assumption for the PDSCH transmission 310 as a result ofdetermining that the time offset 320-a is less than thetimeDurationForQCL timer 315 (as measured from the PDCCH candidate305-a).

Accordingly, in some implementations, the UE 115 and the BS 105 mayemploy mutually understood rules or procedures for maintaining a commonunderstanding of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 305 and forselecting, for the commonly understood set of linked PDCCH candidates305, a common reference PDCCH candidate. As such, in some examples, theUE 115 and the BS 105 may select a same QCL assumption for the scheduledPDSCH transmission 310 (or for a scheduled CSI-RS), which may increase alikelihood for successful communication between the UE 115 and the BS105. Such rules or procedures that are mutually understood between theUE 115 and the BS 105 are illustrated by and described in more detailwith reference to FIGS. 6-11.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example communication timeline 400 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The communicationtimeline 400 may implement or be implemented to realize aspects of thewireless communications system 100 or the signaling diagram 200. Forexample, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one or more components of a BS 105,(which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein,including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) may communicate in accordancewith the communication timeline 400 and may construct a HARQ-ACKcodebook 440 for one or more PDSCH transmissions 425 that are scheduledby DCI conveyed over various PDCCH candidates.

For example, the UE 115 may receive, from the BS 105 over a number ofPDCCH candidates, DCI scheduling a number of PDSCH transmissions 425 andthe UE 115 may transmit a PUCCH transmission 435 including the HARQ-ACKcodebook 440 conveying HARQ-ACK feedback for each of the PDSCHtransmissions 425. For example, the UE 115 may receive DCI for a PDSCHtransmission 425-a over each of a linked set of PDCCH candidates 410(including a PDCCH candidate 410-a and a PDCCH candidate 410-b), DCI fora PDSCH transmission 425-b over a PDCCH candidate 415, and DCI for aPDSCH transmission 425-c over a PDCCH candidate 420. As shown in thecommunication timeline 400, the UE 115 may monitor for the number ofPDCCH candidates over multiple component carriers 405, including acomponent carrier 405-a (which may be associated with a first servingcell) and a component carrier 405-b (which may be associated with asecond serving cell), and over multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions 430,including a PDCCH monitoring occasion 430-a, a PDCCH monitoring occasion430-b, and a PDCCH monitoring occasion 430-c.

In some examples, the UE 115 may include, within the HARQ-ACK codebook440, information relating to a downlink assignment index (DAI) for eachof the received PDSCH transmissions 425. For example, the UE 115 mayinclude a counter DAI (cDAI) and a total DAI (tDAI) in the HARQ-ACKcodebook 440 for each of the PDSCH transmission 425-a (which may bereferred to herein and illustrated as a PDSCH 1), the PDSCH transmission425-b (which may be referred to herein and illustrated as a PDSCH 2),and the PDSCH transmission 425-c (which may be referred to herein andillustrated as a PDSCH 3). The UE 115 may calculate a cDAI for eachPDSCH transmission 425 in accordance with a total number of serving cellPDCCH monitoring occasions 430 minus a number of linked PDCCH candidatepairs (for example, the UE 115 may calculate cDAI according to number of{serving cell, PDCCH monitoring occasion}−pair(s)). The UE 115 maysimilarly calculate a tDAI for each PDSCH transmission 425, and mayupdate the tDAI from PDCCH monitoring occasion 430 to PDCCH monitoringoccasion 430.

Further, in examples in which the PDSCH transmission 425 is scheduled bya set of linked PDCCH candidates (for example, as for the PDSCHtransmission 425-a scheduled by the linked PDCCH candidates 410), the UE115 and the BS 105 may calculate the cDAI or tDAI, or both, from areference PDCCH candidate for the linked PDCCH candidates. In someexamples, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may select the reference PDCCHcandidate as an earlier PDCCH candidate. As such, in the context of thelinked PDCCH candidates 410, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may select thePDCCH candidate 410-a as the reference PDCCH candidate for the linkedPDCCH candidates 410 and, likewise, may calculate the cDAI or the tDAI,or both, for the PDSCH transmission 425-a using the PDCCH candidate410-a.

In some scenarios, however, the UE 115 may refrain from monitoring oneof the linked PDCCH candidates 410 and, as such, the UE 115 and the BS105 may potentially select different PDCCH candidates 410 as referencePDCCH candidates. For example, if the UE 115 drops the PDCCH candidate410-a from a set of monitored PDCCH candidates, the UE 115 may selectthe PDCCH candidate 410-b as the reference PDCCH candidate (as the PDCCHcandidate 410-b includes the DCI that is actually decoded by the UE 115)while the BS 105 may still select the PDCCH candidate 410-a as thereference PDCCH candidate. As a result of such ambiguity between the UE115 and the BS 105, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may potentially calculatedifferent cDAI and tDAI values for the PDSCH transmission 425-ascheduled by the linked PDCCH candidates 410, which may result inincompatibility or confusion between the UE 115 and the BS 105 as towhich PDSCH transmission 425 the UE 115 is referring to in the HARQ-ACKcodebook 440.

Accordingly, in some implementations, the UE 115 and the BS 105 mayemploy mutually understood rules or procedures for maintaining a commonunderstanding of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 410 and forselecting, for the commonly understood set of linked PDCCH candidates410, a common reference PDCCH candidate. As such, in some examples, theUE 115 and the BS 105 may calculate same cDAI and tDAI values for thescheduled PDSCH transmission 425-a, which may increase a likelihood forsuccessful communication between the UE 115 and the BS 105. Such rulesor procedures that are mutually understood between the UE 115 and the BS105 are illustrated by and described in more detail with reference toFIGS. 6-11.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example communication timeline 500 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The communicationtimeline 500 may implement or be implemented to realize aspects of thewireless communications system 100 or the signaling diagram 200. Forexample, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one or more components of a BS 105,(which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein,including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) may communicate in accordancewith the communication timeline 500 and may rate-match a PDSCHtransmission 510 around resources of a set of linked PDCCH candidates505 if the PDSCH transmission 510 has a starting symbol in a same orlater symbol than a reference PDCCH candidate of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates 505.

For example, the UE 115 may receive a configuration of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates 505 within a slot 515 including a PDCCH candidate 505-aand a PDCCH candidate 505-b, and each of the PDCCH candidate 505-a andthe PDCCH candidate 505-b may include or convey a same DCI or PDCCHinformation. In some examples, the set of linked PDCCH candidates 505may include or convey scheduling information associated with the PDSCHtransmission 510. In such examples in which the set of linked PDCCHcandidates 505 schedule the PDSCH transmission 510, the UE 115 and theBS 105 may rate-match the PDSCH transmission 510 around the resourcesoccupied or used by the PDCCH candidates 505 if the PDSCH transmission510 is scheduled for resources that overlap with the PDCCH candidates505 and is scheduled for a symbol period that is in a same symbol periodor a later symbol period than a first symbol period of a reference PDCCHcandidate for the set of linked PDCCH candidates 505.

As such, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may select the reference PDCCHcandidate for the set of linked PDCCH candidates 505 and may determinewhether the PDSCH transmission 510 has a starting symbol that is thesame as or later than a starting symbol of the reference PDCCHcandidate. In some examples, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may select alater PDCCH candidate 505 (such as the PDCCH candidate 505-a) as thereference PDCCH candidate for the set of linked PDCCH candidates 505and, accordingly, may determine that the PDSCH transmission 510 isscheduled for a same starting symbol as a starting symbol of thereference PDCCH candidate. As such, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may expecta rate-matching of the PDSCH transmission 510 around the resourcesoccupied or used by the PDCCH candidates 505.

In some scenarios, however, the UE 115 may refrain from monitoring oneof the linked PDCCH candidates 505 and, as such, the UE 115 and the BS105 may potentially select different PDCCH candidates 505 as referencePDCCH candidates. For example, if the UE 115 drops the PDCCH candidate505-a from a set of monitored PDCCH candidates, the UE 115 may selectthe PDCCH candidate 505-b as the reference PDCCH candidate (as the PDCCHcandidate 505-b includes the DCI that is actually decoded by the UE 115)while the BS 105 may still select the PDCCH candidate 505-a as thereference PDCCH candidate. As a result of such ambiguity between the UE115 and the BS 105, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may potentially reachdifferent conclusions on whether or not the BS 105 transmits the PDSCHtransmission 510 (and similarly whether the PDSCH transmission 510 israte-matched around the resources occupied by the PDCCH candidates 505).For example, if the UE 115 refrains from monitoring the PDCCH candidate505-a, the UE 115-a may be unaware that the BS 105 rate-matches thePDSCH transmission 510 around resources occupied by the PDCCH candidate505-a.

Accordingly, in some implementations, the UE 115 and the BS 105 mayemploy mutually understood rules or procedures for maintaining a commonunderstanding of the set of linked PDCCH candidates 505 and forselecting, for the commonly understood set of linked PDCCH candidates505, a common reference PDCCH candidate. As such, in some examples, theUE 115 and the BS 105 may reach same conclusions as to whether the BS105 rate-matches the PDSCH transmission 510 around the resourcesoccupied by the PDCCH candidates 505, which may increase a likelihoodfor successful communication between the UE 115 and the BS 105. Suchrules or procedures that are mutually understood between the UE 115 andthe BS 105 are illustrated by and described in more detail withreference to FIGS. 6-11.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example PDCCH candidate linking procedure 600 thatsupports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The PDCCHcandidate linking procedure 600 may implement or be implemented torealize aspects of the wireless communications system 100 or thesignaling diagram 200. For example, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one ormore components of a BS 105, (which may be examples of correspondingdevices described herein, including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) mayemploy the PDCCH candidate linking procedure 600 to update a linkingbetween a set of linked PDCCH candidates in examples in which the UE 115refrains from monitoring one of the linked PDCCH candidates (orotherwise selects to monitor a subset of the linked PDCCH candidates).

For example, the UE 115 may receive an indication from the BS 105 of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate 605associated with a first monitoring occasion 615 of a first SS set (forexample, an SS set 1) and a second PDCCH candidate 610 associated with asecond monitoring occasion 620 of a second SS set (for example, an SSset 2). In some examples, the UE 115 may select to monitor the secondPDCCH candidate 610 as a result of a resource conflict (or as a resultof some other PDCCH dropping rule) associated with the first PDCCHcandidate 605. As such, the UE 115 may monitor for the second PDCCHcandidate 610 and may refrain from monitoring for the first PDCCHcandidate 605.

In some implementations, and as a result of or in response to the UE 115refraining from monitoring for the first PDCCH candidate 605, the UE 115and the BS 105 may commonly employ the PDCCH candidate linking procedure600 to unlink the second PDCCH candidate 610 (the PDCCH candidate thatis monitored by the UE 115) from the first PDCCH candidate 605. As such,the UE 115 and the BS 105 may consider the second PDCCH candidate 610 asan individual or standalone PDCCH candidate without being associatedwith a reference, such that the UE 115 and the BS 105 may definescheduling information or restrictions relative to the second PDCCHcandidate 610 (which may be treated as the individual or standalonePDCCH candidate or, equivalently, as a PDCCH candidate that isassociated with a single, non-repeated instance of DCI) withoutselecting a reference PDCCH candidate.

Equivalently, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may consider the second PDCCHcandidate 610 as the reference PDCCH candidate as a result of unlinkingthe second PDCCH candidate 610 from the first PDCCH candidate 605 and,accordingly, may define scheduling information or restrictions relativeto the second PDCCH candidate 610. As such, the UE 115 and the BS 105may achieve a common understanding of a PDCCH candidate from which todefine scheduling information or restrictions, which may increasecompatibility and consistency between the UE 115 and the BS 105 and, inturn, increase the likelihood for successful communication between theUE 115 and the BS 105.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example PDCCH candidate linking procedure 700 thatsupports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The PDCCHcandidate linking procedure 700 may implement or be implemented torealize aspects of the wireless communications system 100 or thesignaling diagram 200. For example, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one ormore components of a BS 105, (which may be examples of correspondingdevices described herein, including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) mayemploy the PDCCH candidate linking procedure 700 to update a linkingbetween a set of linked PDCCH candidates in examples in which the UE 115refrains from monitoring one of the linked PDCCH candidates (orotherwise selects to monitor a subset of the linked PDCCH candidates).

For example, the UE 115 may receive an indication from the BS 105 of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate 705associated with a first monitoring occasion 715 of a first SS set (forexample, an SS set 1) and a second PDCCH candidate 710 associated with asecond monitoring occasion 720 of a second SS set (for example, an SSset 2). In some examples, the UE 115 may select to monitor the secondPDCCH candidate 710 as a result of a resource conflict (or as a resultof some other PDCCH dropping rule) associated with the first PDCCHcandidate 705. As such, the UE 115 may monitor for the second PDCCHcandidate 710 and may refrain from monitoring for the first PDCCHcandidate 705.

In some implementations, and as a result of or in response to the UE 115refraining from monitoring for the first PDCCH candidate 705, the UE 115and the BS 105 may commonly employ the PDCCH candidate linking procedure700 to unlink the second monitoring occasion 720 associated with thesecond PDCCH candidate 710 (the PDCCH candidate that is monitored by theUE 115) from the first monitoring occasion 715 associated with the firstPDCCH candidate 705. As such, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may unlink allPDCCH candidates in the first monitoring occasion 715 and the secondmonitoring occasion 720. For example, if there are two pairs of linkedPDCCH candidates across the first monitoring occasion 715 and the secondmonitoring occasion 720, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may unlink all fourPDCCH candidates if there is at least one pair of linked PDCCHcandidates for which one of the two is dropped (as may occur between thefirst PDCCH candidate 705 and the second PDCCH candidate 710).

In accordance with the unlinking of the various PDCCH candidates acrossthe two monitoring occasions, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may treat eachPDCCH candidate as an individual or standalone PDCCH candidate (such asa PDCCH candidate that is associated with a single, non-repeatedinstance of DCI) and, accordingly, may refrain from selecting areference PDCCH candidate for those unlinked PDCCH candidates. As such,the UE 115 and the BS 105 may achieve a common understanding of a PDCCHcandidate from which to define scheduling information or restrictions,which may increase compatibility and consistency between the UE 115 andthe BS 105 and, in turn, increase the likelihood for successfulcommunication between the UE 115 and the BS 105.

Further, although shown as including two pairs of linked PDCCHcandidates, the first monitoring occasion 715 and the second monitoringoccasion 720 may include any number of pairs of linked PDCCH candidateswithout exceeding the scope of the present disclosure. For example, ifthere are 10 pairs of linked PDCCH candidates in the first monitoringoccasion 715 and the second monitoring occasion 720, the UE 115 and theBS 105 may unlink all 20 PDCCH candidates as a result of the dropping ofthe first PDCCH candidate 705.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example PDCCH candidate linking procedure 800 thatsupports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The PDCCHcandidate linking procedure 800 may implement or be implemented torealize aspects of the wireless communications system 100 or thesignaling diagram 200. For example, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one ormore components of a BS 105, (which may be examples of correspondingdevices described herein, including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) mayemploy the PDCCH candidate linking procedure 800 to update a linkingbetween a set of linked PDCCH candidates in examples in which the UE 115refrains from monitoring one of the linked PDCCH candidates (orotherwise selects to monitor a subset of the linked PDCCH candidates).

For example, the UE 115 may receive an indication from the BS 105 of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate 805associated with a first monitoring occasion 815 of a first SS set (forexample, an SS set 1) and a second PDCCH candidate 810 associated with asecond monitoring occasion 820 of a second SS set (for example, an SSset 2). In some examples, the UE 115 may select to monitor the secondPDCCH candidate 810 as a result of a resource conflict (or as a resultof some other PDCCH dropping rule) associated with the first PDCCHcandidate 805. As such, the UE 115 may monitor for the second PDCCHcandidate 810 and may refrain from monitoring for the first PDCCHcandidate 805.

In some implementations, and as a result of or in response to the UE 115refraining from monitoring for the first PDCCH candidate 805, the UE 115and the BS 105 may commonly employ the PDCCH candidate linking procedure800 to unlink the second SS set associated with the second PDCCHcandidate 810 (the PDCCH candidate that is monitored by the UE 115) fromthe first SS set associated with the first PDCCH candidate 805. As such,the UE 115 and the BS 105 may unlink all monitoring occasions in thefirst SS set and the second SS set. For example, and as shown in FIG. 8,if there are four linked pairs of monitoring occasions across the firstSS set and the second SS set, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may unlink alleight monitoring occasions if there is at least one pair of linked PDCCHcandidates for which one of the two is dropped (as may occur between thefirst PDCCH candidate 805 and the second PDCCH candidate 810).Accordingly, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may likewise unlink all PDCCHcandidates across the unlinked monitoring occasions.

In accordance with the unlinking of the various PDCCH candidates acrossthe two SS sets, the UE 115 and the BS 105 may treat each PDCCHcandidate as an individual or standalone PDCCH candidate (such as aPDCCH candidate that is associated with a single, non-repeated instanceof DCI) and, accordingly, may refrain from selecting a reference PDCCHcandidate for those unlinked PDCCH candidates. As such, the UE 115 andthe BS 105 may achieve a common understanding of a PDCCH candidate fromwhich to define scheduling information or restrictions, which mayincrease compatibility and consistency between the UE 115 and the BS 105and, in turn, increase the likelihood for successful communicationbetween the UE 115 and the BS 105.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 900that supports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The PDCCHcandidate monitoring procedure 900 may implement or be implemented torealize aspects of the wireless communications system 100 or thesignaling diagram 200. For example, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one ormore components of a BS 105, (which may be examples of correspondingdevices described herein, including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) mayemploy the PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 900 to update a set ofmonitored PDCCH candidates in examples in which the UE 115 refrains frommonitoring one of the linked PDCCH candidates (or otherwise selects tomonitor a subset of the linked PDCCH candidates).

For example, the UE 115 may receive an indication from the BS 105 of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate 905associated with a first monitoring occasion 915 of a first SS set (forexample, an SS set 1) and a second PDCCH candidate 910 associated with asecond monitoring occasion 920 of a second SS set (for example, an SSset 2). In some examples, the UE 115 may refrain from monitoring thefirst PDCCH candidate 905 as a result of a resource conflict (or as aresult of some other PDCCH dropping rule). In some implementations, andas a result of or in response to the UE 115 refraining from monitoringfor the first PDCCH candidate 905, the UE 115 and the BS 105 maycommonly employ the PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 900 to classifyboth the first PDCCH candidate 905 and the second PDCCH candidate 910 asunmonitored PDCCH candidates.

In other words, if the UE 115 drops, from a set of monitored PDCCHcandidates, the first PDCCH candidate 905 of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the UE 115 also may drop a remainder of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates (including the second PDCCH candidate 910). As such,the UE 115 may instead monitor for one or more other PDCCH candidatesoutside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates. Alternatively, the UE 115may monitor for other downlink signaling from the BS 105, may transmituplink signaling to the BS 105, or may refrain from communicating withthe BS 105 instead of monitoring for any PDCCH candidate of the linkedset of PDCCH candidates. In some aspects, such a dropping of themonitoring for the set of linked PDCCH candidates may reduce ambiguitybetween the UE 115 and the BS 105 as a result of avoiding scenarios inwhich ambiguity may arise.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 1000that supports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The PDCCHcandidate monitoring procedure 1000 may implement or be implemented torealize aspects of the wireless communications system 100 or thesignaling diagram 200. For example, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one ormore components of a BS 105, (which may be examples of correspondingdevices described herein, including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) mayemploy the PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 1000 to update a set ofmonitored PDCCH candidates in examples in which the UE 115 refrains frommonitoring one of the linked PDCCH candidates (or otherwise selects tomonitor a subset of the linked PDCCH candidates).

For example, the UE 115 may receive an indication from the BS 105 of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate 1005associated with a first monitoring occasion 1015 of a first SS set (forexample, an SS set 1) and a second PDCCH candidate 1010 associated witha second monitoring occasion 1020 of a second SS set (for example, an SSset 2). In some examples, the UE 115 may refrain from monitoring thefirst PDCCH candidate 1005 as a result of a resource conflict (or as aresult of some other PDCCH dropping rule). In some implementations, andas a result of or in response to the UE 115 refraining from monitoringfor the first PDCCH candidate 1005, the UE 115 and the BS 105 maycommonly employ the PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 1000 toclassify both the first monitoring occasion 1015 associated with thefirst PDCCH candidate 1005 and the second monitoring occasion 1020associated with the second PDCCH candidate 1010 as unmonitoredmonitoring occasions.

In other words, if the UE 115 drops, from a set of monitored PDCCHcandidates, the first PDCCH candidate 1005 of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the UE 115 also may drop other PDCCH candidates associatedwith the first monitoring occasion 1015 and the second monitoringoccasion 1020. As such, the UE 115 may instead monitor for one or moreother PDCCH candidates outside of the first monitoring occasion 1015 andthe second monitoring occasion 1020. Alternatively, the UE 115 maymonitor for other downlink signaling from the BS 105, may transmituplink signaling to the BS 105, or may refrain from communicating withthe BS 105 instead of monitoring over the first monitoring occasion 1015and the second monitoring occasion 1020. In some aspects, such adropping of the monitoring over the monitoring occasions associated withthe set of linked PDCCH candidates may reduce ambiguity between the UE115 and the BS 105 as a result of avoiding scenarios in which ambiguitymay arise.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 1100that supports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The PDCCHcandidate monitoring procedure 1100 may implement or be implemented torealize aspects of the wireless communications system 100 or thesignaling diagram 200. For example, a UE 115 and a BS 105, or one ormore components of a BS 105, (which may be examples of correspondingdevices described herein, including with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2) mayemploy the PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 1100 to update a set ofmonitored PDCCH candidates in examples in which the UE 115 refrains frommonitoring one of the linked PDCCH candidates (or otherwise selects tomonitor a subset of the linked PDCCH candidates).

For example, the UE 115 may receive an indication from the BS 105 of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate 1105associated with a first monitoring occasion 1115 of a first SS set (forexample, an SS set 1) and a second PDCCH candidate 1110 associated witha second monitoring occasion 1120 of a second SS set (for example, an SSset 2). In some examples, the UE 115 may refrain from monitoring thefirst PDCCH candidate 1105 as a result of a resource conflict (or as aresult of some other PDCCH dropping rule). In some implementations, andas a result of or in response to the UE 115 refraining from monitoringfor the first PDCCH candidate 1105, the UE 115 and the BS 105 maycommonly employ the PDCCH candidate monitoring procedure 1100 toclassify both the first SS set associated with the first PDCCH candidate1105 and the second SS set associated with the second PDCCH candidate1110 as unmonitored SS sets.

In other words, if the UE 115 drops, from a set of monitored PDCCHcandidates, the first PDCCH candidate 1105 of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the UE 115 also may drop other PDCCH candidates associatedwith the first SS set and the second SS set. As such, the UE 115 mayinstead monitor for one or more other PDCCH candidates outside of thefirst SS set and the second SS set. Alternatively, the UE 115 maymonitor for other downlink signaling from the BS 105, may transmituplink signaling to the BS 105, or may refrain from communicating withthe BS 105 instead of monitoring over the first SS set and the second SSset. In some aspects, such a dropping of the monitoring over the SS setsassociated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates may reduce ambiguitybetween the UE 115 and the BS 105 as a result of avoiding scenarios inwhich ambiguity may arise.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example process flow 1200 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The process flow1200 may implement or be implemented to realize aspects of the wirelesscommunications system 100 or the signaling diagram 200. For example, theprocess flow 1200 may illustrate communication between a UE 115-b and aBS 105-b, or one or more components of the BS 105-b, which may beexamples of corresponding devices described herein, including withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In some examples, the UE 115-b may select tomonitor a subset of a set of linked PDCCH candidates as a result of aresource conflict or in accordance with some other dropping rule and, assuch, the UE 115-b and the BS 105-b may employ one or more rules orprocedures for maintaining a common understanding of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates and for selecting a reference PDCCH candidate for theset of linked PDCCH candidates.

In the following description of the process flow 1200, the operationsmay be performed (for example, reported or provided) in a differentorder than the order shown, or the operations performed by the UE 115-band the BS 105-b may be performed in different orders or at differenttimes. For example, specific operations also may be left out of theprocess flow 1200, or other operations may be added to the process flow1200. Further, although some operations or signaling may be shown tooccur at different times for discussion purposes, these operations mayactually occur at the same time.

At 1205, the UE 115-b may receive, from the BS 105-b, an indication of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate and asecond PDCCH candidate. In some examples, the first PDCCH candidate andthe second PDCCH candidate may be associated with a same PDCCHinformation (such as a same DCI). For example, the set of linked PDCCHcandidates may be linked for repetition of the same PDCCH informationsuch that each PDCCH candidate of the set of linked PDCCH candidatescarries the same PDCCH information (for example, the same DCI).

At 1210-a, the UE 115-b may select the second PDCCH candidate formonitoring according to a resource conflict (or in accordance with anyother dropping rule) associated with the first PDCCH candidate.Similarly, at 1210-b, the BS 105-b may select the second PDCCH candidateas a monitored PDCCH candidate according to the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate. For example, the UE 115-b maybe unable to monitor for the first PDCCH candidate as a result of aPDCCH candidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rulefor PDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof. As such, the UE 115-bmay drop, from a set of monitored PDCCH candidates, the first PDCCHcandidate.

At 1215-a, the UE 115-b may update, in accordance with selecting thesecond PDCCH candidate for monitoring and dropping the first PDCCHcandidate, the set of linked PDCCH candidates to obtain an updated setof linked PDCCH candidates. Similarly, at 1215-b, the BS 105-b mayupdate, in accordance with selecting the second PDCCH candidate as amonitored PDCCH candidate and selecting the first PDCCH candidate as anunmonitored or dropped PDCCH candidate, the set of linked PDCCHcandidates to obtain an updated set of linked PDCCH candidates. In someexamples, the UE 115-b and the BS 105-b may update the set of linkedPDCCH candidates as a result of unlinking the second PDCCH candidatefrom the first PDCCH candidate, unlinking a first monitoring occasionassociated with the first PDCCH candidate from a second monitoringoccasion associated with the second PDCCH candidate, or unlinking afirst SS set associated with the first PDCCH candidate from a second SSset associated with the second PDCCH candidate. Such an updating of theset of linked PDCCH candidates is illustrated by and described in moredetail herein with reference to FIGS. 6-8.

At 1220-a, the UE 115-b may select one of the first PDCCH candidate orthe second PDCCH candidate as a reference (such as a reference PDCCHcandidate) for the set of linked PDCCH candidates (or for the updatedset of linked PDCCH candidates) in connection with selecting the secondPDCCH candidate for monitoring. Similarly, at 1220-b, the BS 105-b mayselect one of the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate asthe reference (such as the reference PDCCH candidate) for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates (or for the updated set of linked PDCCHcandidates) in connection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate as amonitored PDCCH candidate. In some examples, the UE 115-b and the BS105-b may select the reference as a result of selecting the second PDCCHcandidate for monitoring by the UE 115-b and dropping the first PDCCHcandidate from the set of monitored PDCCH candidates. In other words,the selecting of the reference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates(or for the updated set of linked PDCCH candidates) may be triggered bythe monitoring of a subset of the set of linked PDCCH candidates by theUE 115-b.

At 1225, the BS 105-b may, in some implementations, output a firstinstance of the PDCCH information over the first PDCCH candidate. Inother words, for example, the BS 105-b may transmit the first instanceof the PDCCH information to the UE 115-b over the first PDCCH candidate.In some other implementations, the BS 105-b may refrain from outputtingthe PDCCH information over the first PDCCH candidate as a result ofselecting the second PDCCH candidate as a monitored PDCCH candidate andselecting the first PDCCH candidate as a dropped or unmonitored PDCCHcandidate. In some examples, and as a result of the resource conflict(or other dropping rule), the UE 115-b may refrain from monitoring forthe first PDCCH candidate even if the BS 105-b outputs the firstinstance of the PDCCH information over the first PDCCH candidate.

At 1230, the BS 105-b may output a second instance of the PDCCHinformation over the second PDCCH candidate. In other words, forexample, the BS 105-b may transmit the second instance of the PDCCHinformation to the UE 115-b over the second PDCCH candidate. In someexamples, the BS 105-b may output the second instance of the PDCCHinformation over the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theselected reference and the UE 115-b may likewise monitor for the PDCCHinformation over the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theselected reference. For example, the UE 115-b and the BS 105-b maydefine any scheduling information or restrictions associated with thePDCCH information relative to the selected reference. In some examples,for instance, the UE 115-b and the BS 105-b may define the schedulinginformation as a function of a time domain property or a frequencydomain property of the selected reference.

At 1240, the UE 115-b may communicate with the BS 105-b in accordancewith the selected reference. For example, the UE 115-b and the BS 105-bmay define the scheduling information as a function of the time domainproperty or the frequency domain property of the selected reference andmay communicate in accordance with the scheduling information.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example process flow 1300 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The process flow1300 may implement or be implemented to realize aspects of the wirelesscommunications system 100 or the signaling diagram 200. For example, theprocess flow 1300 may illustrate communication between a UE 115-c and aBS 105-c, or one or more components of the BS 105-c, which may beexamples of corresponding devices described herein, including withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In some examples, the UE 115-c may refrainfrom monitoring for any of a set of linked PDCCH candidates as a resultof a resource conflict or in accordance with some other dropping ruleassociated with at least one of the linked PDCCH candidates and, assuch, the UE 115-c and the BS 105-c may employ one or more rules orprocedures for maintaining a common understanding of how the UE 115-crefrains from monitoring for any of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

In the following description of the process flow 1300, the operationsmay be performed (for example, reported or provided) in a differentorder than the order shown, or the operations performed by the UE 115-cand the BS 105-c may be performed in different orders or at differenttimes. For example, specific operations also may be left out of theprocess flow 1300, or other operations may be added to the process flow1300. Further, although some operations or signaling may be shown tooccur at different times for discussion purposes, these operations mayactually occur at the same time.

At 1305, the UE 115-c may receive, from the BS 105-c, an indication of aset of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate and asecond PDCCH candidate. In some examples, the first PDCCH candidate andthe second PDCCH candidate may be associated with a same PDCCHinformation (such as a same DCI). For example, the set of linked PDCCHcandidates may be linked for repetition of the same PDCCH informationsuch that each PDCCH candidate of the set of linked PDCCH candidatescarries the same PDCCH information (for example, the same DCI).

At 1310-a, the UE 115-c may select to monitor a first PDCCH candidatethat is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance witha resource conflict (or some other dropping rule) between the firstPDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set oflinked PDCCH candidates. Similarly, at 1310-b, the BS 105-c may selectthe first PDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates as a monitored PDCCH candidate in accordance with theresource conflict (or some other dropping rule) between the first PDCCHcandidate and the second PDCCH candidate that is within the set oflinked PDCCH candidates. In some examples, the UE 115-c and the BS 105-cmay select the first PDCCH candidate (that is outside of the set oflinked PDCCH candidates) for monitoring by the UE 115-c instead of anentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates. In other words, as aresult of selecting the first PDCCH candidate for monitoring by the UE115-c, the UE 115-c may refrain from monitoring for any PDCCH candidateof the set of PDCCH candidates. Such a dropping of linked PDCCHcandidates is illustrated by and described in more detail with referenceto FIG. 9.

At 1315-a, the UE 115-c may, in some implementations, refrain frommonitoring for a number of PDCCH candidates over a set of linkedmonitoring occasions that are associated with the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with selecting to monitor the first PDCCHcandidate instead of the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.Similarly, at 1315-b, the BS 105-c may, in some implementations, selecta first number of PDCCH candidates as monitored PDCCH candidates insteadof a second number of PDCCH candidates allocated to the set of linkedmonitoring occasions that are associated with the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with selecting the first PDCCH candidate as amonitored PDCCH candidate instead of the entirety of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates. Such a dropping of linked monitoring occasions isillustrated by and described in more detail with reference to FIG. 10.

At 1320-a, the UE 115-c may, in some implementations, refrain frommonitoring for a number of PDCCH candidates over a set of linked SS setsthat are associated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates inaccordance with selecting to monitor the first PDCCH candidate insteadof the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates. Similarly, at1320-b, the BS 105-c may, in some implementations, select a first numberof PDCCH candidates as monitored PDCCH candidates instead of a secondnumber of PDCCH candidates allocated to the set of linked SS sets thatare associated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordancewith selecting the first PDCCH candidate as a monitored PDCCH candidateinstead of the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates. Such adropping of linked SS sets is illustrated by and described in moredetail with reference to FIG. 11.

At 1325, the BS 105-c may, in some implementations, output the PDCCHinformation over the set of linked PDCCH candidates. In other words, theBS 105-c may transmit the PDCCH information to the UE 115-c over the setof linked PDCCH candidates. In some other implementations, the BS 105-cmay refrain from outputting the PDCCH information over the set of linkedPDCCH candidates as a result of the resource conflict between the firstPDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidatesand the second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates. In implementations in which the BS 105-c outputs the PDCCHinformation over the set of linked PDCCH candidates, the UE 115-c mayrefrain from monitoring for an entirety of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates as a result of the resource conflict between the first PDCCHcandidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates and thesecond PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates.

At 1330, the UE 115-c and the BS 105-c may communicate in accordancewith PDCCH information conveyed over the second PDCCH candidate that theUE 115-c and the BS 105-c select for monitoring by the UE 115-c insteadof the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

FIG. 14 shows a block diagram 1400 of an example device 1405 thatsupports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The device1405 may communicate wirelessly with one or more BSs 105, UEs 115, orany combination thereof. The device 1405 may include components forbi-directional voice and data communications including components fortransmitting and receiving communications, such as a communicationsmanager 1420, an input/output (I/O) controller 1410, a transceiver 1415,an antenna 1425, a memory 1430, code 1435, and a processor 1440. Thesecomponents may be in electronic communication or otherwise coupled (forexample, operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, orelectrically) via one or more buses (such as a bus 1445).

The I/O controller 1410 may manage input and output signals for thedevice 1405. The I/O controller 1410 also may manage peripherals notintegrated into the device 1405. In some implementations, the I/Ocontroller 1410 may represent a physical connection or port to anexternal peripheral. In some implementations, the I/O controller 1410may utilize an operating system such as iOS®, ANDROID®, MS-DOS®,MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, LINUX®, or another known operating system.Additionally, or alternatively, the I/O controller 1410 may represent orinteract with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similardevice. In some implementations, the I/O controller 1410 may beimplemented as part of a processor, such as the processor 1440. In someimplementations, a user may interact with the device 1405 via the I/Ocontroller 1410 or via hardware components controlled by the I/Ocontroller 1410.

In some implementations, the device 1405 may include a single antenna1425. However, in some other implementations, the device 1405 may havemore than one antenna 1425, which may be capable of concurrentlytransmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. Thetransceiver 1415 may communicate bi-directionally, via the one or moreantennas 1425, wired, or wireless links as described herein. Forexample, the transceiver 1415 may represent a wireless transceiver andmay communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1415 also may include a modem to modulate the packets, toprovide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 1425 fortransmission, and to demodulate packets received from the one or moreantennas 1425.

The memory 1430 may include random access memory (RAM) and read-onlymemory (ROM). The memory 1430 may store computer-readable,computer-executable code 1435 including instructions that, when executedby the processor 1440, cause the device 1405 to perform variousfunctions described herein. The code 1435 may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or anothertype of memory. In some implementations, the code 1435 may not bedirectly executable by the processor 1440 but may cause a computer (forexample, if compiled and executed) to perform functions describedherein. In some implementations, the memory 1430 may contain, amongother things, a basic I/O system (BIOS) which may control basic hardwareor software operation such as the interaction with peripheral componentsor devices.

The processor 1440 may be any one or more suitable processors capable ofexecuting scripts or instructions of one or more software programsstored in the device 1405 (such as within the memory 1430). In someimplementations, the processor 1440 may be a component of a processingsystem. A processing system may generally refer to a system or series ofmachines or components that receives inputs and processes the inputs toproduce a set of outputs (which may be passed to other systems orcomponents of, for example, the device 1405). For example, a processingsystem of the device 1405 may refer to a system including the variousother components or subcomponents of the device 1405.

The processing system of the device 1405 may interface with othercomponents of the device 1405, and may process information received fromother components (such as inputs or signals) or output information toother components. For example, a chip or modem of the device 1405 mayinclude a processing system, a first interface to output information,and a second interface to obtain information. In some implementations,the first interface may refer to an interface between the processingsystem of the chip or modem and a transmitter, such that the device 1405may transmit information output from the chip or modem. In someimplementations, the second interface may refer to an interface betweenthe processing system of the chip or modem and a receiver, such that thedevice 1405 may obtain information or signal inputs, and the informationmay be passed to the processing system. A person having ordinary skillin the art will readily recognize that the first interface also mayobtain information or signal inputs, and the second interface also mayoutput information or signal outputs.

The communications manager 1420 may support wireless communication at aUE in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, thecommunications manager 1420 may be configured as or otherwise support ameans for receiving an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate anda second PDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation. The communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for selecting the second PDCCH candidate formonitoring according to a resource conflict associated with the firstPDCCH candidate. The communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for selecting one of the first PDCCH candidateor the second PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate formonitoring. The communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for monitoring the second PDCCH candidate inaccordance with the selected reference.

In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for updating, in accordance with selectingthe second PDCCH candidate for monitoring according to the resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, the set of linkedPDCCH candidates to obtain an updated set of linked PDCCH candidates,where selecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCHcandidate as the reference for the set of linked PDCCH candidatesincludes selecting the reference for the updated set of linked PDCCHcandidates.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking, from the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the first PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updatedset of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first monitoring occasionassociated with the first PDCCH candidate from a second monitoringoccasion associated with the second PDCCH candidate in accordance withthe resource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, wherethe updated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCHcandidate.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first number of PDCCHcandidates associated with the first monitoring occasion and from asecond number of PDCCH candidates associated with the second monitoringoccasion.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first SS set associated withthe first PDCCH candidate from a second SS set associated with thesecond PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1420 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first number of monitoringoccasions associated with the first SS set from a second number ofmonitoring occasions associated with the second SS set.

In some examples, to support selecting one of the first PDCCH candidateor the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set of linkedPDCCH candidates, the communications manager 1420 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for selecting the first PDCCH candidate orthe second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with a reference selection rule.

In some examples, the reference selection rule defines a procedure forselecting the reference from a set of PDCCH candidates includingmonitored PDCCH candidates and unmonitored PDCCH candidates of the setof linked PDCCH candidates.

In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for communicating with a component of a BSin accordance with the selected reference, where scheduling informationassociated with the communicating with the BS is a function of a timedomain property or a frequency domain property of the selectedreference.

In some examples, the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate is a result of a PDCCH candidate overbooking, a schedulingconflict, or a priority rule for PDCCH monitoring, or any combinationthereof.

Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1420 maysupport wireless communication at a UE in accordance with examples asdisclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1420 may beconfigured as or otherwise support a means for receiving an indicationof a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidatesincluding multiple PDCCH candidates that are associated with a samePDCCH information. The communications manager 1420 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for selecting to monitor a first PDCCHcandidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates inaccordance with a resource conflict between the first PDCCH candidateand a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selected instead of anentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for refraining from monitoring for a numberof PDCCH candidates over a set of linked monitoring occasions that areassociated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance withselecting to monitor the first PDCCH candidate instead of the entiretyof the set of linked PDCCH candidates, where each of the multiple PDCCHcandidates of the set of linked PDCCH candidates corresponds to amonitoring occasion of the set of linked monitoring occasions.

In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for refraining from monitoring for a numberof PDCCH candidates over a set of linked SS sets that are associatedwith the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with selecting tomonitor the first PDCCH candidate instead of the entirety of the set oflinked PDCCH candidates, where each of the multiple PDCCH candidates ofthe set of linked PDCCH candidates corresponds to an SS set of the setof linked SS sets.

In some examples, the resource conflict between the first PDCCHcandidate and the second PDCCH candidate may be a result of a PDCCHcandidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rule forPDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof.

In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may be configured toperform various operations (such as receiving, monitoring, ortransmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the transceiver1415, the one or more antennas 1425, or any combination thereof.Although the communications manager 1420 is illustrated as a separatecomponent, in some examples, one or more functions described withreference to the communications manager 1420 may be supported by orperformed by the processor 1440, the memory 1430, the code 1435, or anycombination thereof. For example, the code 1435 may include instructionsexecutable by the processor 1440 to cause the device 1405 to performvarious aspects of techniques for unlinking PDCCH due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition as described herein,or the processor 1440 and the memory 1430 may be otherwise configured toperform or support such operations.

FIG. 15 shows a block diagram 1500 of an example device 1505 thatsupports techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCHcandidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The device1505 may communicate wirelessly with one or more BSs 105, UEs 115, orany combination thereof. The device 1505 may include components forbi-directional voice and data communications including components fortransmitting and receiving communications, such as a communicationsmanager 1520, a network communications manager 1510, a transceiver 1515,an antenna 1525, a memory 1530, code 1535, a processor 1540, and aninter-station communications manager 1545. These components may be inelectronic communication or otherwise coupled (for example operatively,communicatively, functionally, electronically, or electrically) via oneor more buses (such as a bus 1550).

The network communications manager 1510 may manage communications with acore network 130 (for example, via one or more wired backhaul links).For example, the network communications manager 1510 may manage thetransfer of data communications for client devices, such as one or moreUEs 115.

In some implementations, the device 1505 may include a single antenna1525. However, in some other implementations the device 1505 may havemore than one antenna 1525, which may be capable of concurrentlytransmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. Thetransceiver 1515 may communicate bi-directionally, via the one or moreantennas 1525, wired, or wireless links as described herein. Forexample, the transceiver 1515 may represent a wireless transceiver andmay communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1515 also may include a modem to modulate the packets, toprovide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 1525 fortransmission, and to demodulate packets received from the one or moreantennas 1525.

The memory 1530 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1530 may storecomputer-readable, computer-executable code 1535 including instructionsthat, when executed by the processor 1540, cause the device 1505 toperform various functions described herein. The code 1535 may be storedin a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory oranother type of memory. In some implementations, the code 1535 may notbe directly executable by the processor 1540 but may cause a computer(for example, if compiled and executed) to perform functions describedherein. In some implementations, the memory 1530 may contain, amongother things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware or softwareoperation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

The inter-station communications manager 1545 may manage communicationswith other BSs 105, and may include a controller or scheduler forcontrolling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with other BSs105. For example, the inter-station communications manager 1545 maycoordinate scheduling for transmissions to UEs 115 for variousinterference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or jointtransmission. In some examples, the inter-station communications manager1545 may provide an X2 interface within an LTE/LTE-A wirelesscommunications network technology to provide communication between BSs105.

The processor 1540 may be any one or more suitable processors capable ofexecuting scripts or instructions of one or more software programsstored in the device 1505 (such as within the memory 1530). In someimplementations, the processor 1540 may be a component of a processingsystem. A processing system may generally refer to a system or series ofmachines or components that receives inputs and processes the inputs toproduce a set of outputs (which may be passed to other systems orcomponents of, for example, the device 1505). For example, a processingsystem of the device 1505 may refer to a system including the variousother components or subcomponents of the device 1505.

The processing system of the device 1505 may interface with othercomponents of the device 1505, and may process information received fromother components (such as inputs or signals) or output information toother components. For example, a chip or modem of the device 1505 mayinclude a processing system, a first interface to output information,and a second interface to obtain information. In some implementations,the first interface may refer to an interface between the processingsystem of the chip or modem and a transmitter, such that the device 1505may transmit information output from the chip or modem. In someimplementations, the second interface may refer to an interface betweenthe processing system of the chip or modem and a receiver, such that thedevice 1505 may obtain information or signal inputs, and the informationmay be passed to the processing system. A person having ordinary skillin the art will readily recognize that the first interface also mayobtain information or signal inputs, and the second interface also mayoutput information or signal outputs.

The communications manager 1520 may support wireless communication at anapparatus of a BS in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. Forexample, the communications manager 1520 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for outputting an indication of a set oflinked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates including afirst PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that are associatedwith a same PDCCH information. The communications manager 1520 may beconfigured as or otherwise support a means for selecting the secondPDCCH candidate as a monitored PDCCH candidate according to a resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate. The communicationsmanager 1520 may be configured as or otherwise support a means forselecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidateas a reference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection withselecting the second PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate.The communications manager 1520 may be configured as or otherwisesupport a means for outputting the PDCCH information over the secondPDCCH candidate in accordance with the selected reference.

In some examples, the communications manager 1520 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for updating, in accordance with selectingthe second PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate according tothe resource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, the setof linked PDCCH candidates to obtain an updated set of linked PDCCHcandidates, where selecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or thesecond PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates includes selecting the reference for the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1520 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking, from the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the first PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updatedset of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1520 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first monitoring occasionassociated with the first PDCCH candidate from a second monitoringoccasion associated with the second PDCCH candidate in accordance withthe resource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, wherethe updated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCHcandidate.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1520 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first number of PDCCHcandidates associated with the first monitoring occasion and from asecond number of PDCCH candidates associated with the second monitoringoccasion.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1520 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first SS set associated withthe first PDCCH candidate from a second SS set associated with thesecond PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

In some examples, to support updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the communications manager 1520 may be configured as orotherwise support a means for unlinking a first number of monitoringoccasions associated with the first SS set from a second number ofmonitoring occasions associated with the second SS set.

In some examples, to support selecting the reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates, the communications manager 1520 may beconfigured as or otherwise support a means for selecting the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates in accordance with a reference selection rule.

In some examples, the reference selection rule defines a procedure forselecting the reference from a set of PDCCH candidates includingmonitored PDCCH candidates and unmonitored PDCCH candidates of the setof linked PDCCH candidates.

In some examples, the communications manager 1520 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for communicating in accordance with theselected reference, where scheduling information associated with thecommunicating is a function of a time domain property or a frequencydomain property of the selected reference.

In some examples, the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate is a result of a PDCCH candidate overbooking, a schedulingconflict, or a priority rule for PDCCH monitoring, or any combinationthereof.

Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1520 maysupport wireless communication at an apparatus of a BS in accordancewith examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communicationsmanager 1520 may be configured as or otherwise support a means foroutputting an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidates that areassociated with a same PDCCH information. The communications manager1520 may be configured as or otherwise support a means for selecting afirst PDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates as a monitored PDCCH candidate in accordance with a resourceconflict between the first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidatethat is within the set of linked PDCCH candidates, where the first PDCCHcandidate is selected as the monitored PDCCH candidate instead of anentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

In some examples, the communications manager 1520 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for selecting a first number of PDCCHcandidates as monitored PDCCH candidates instead of a second number ofPDCCH candidates allocated to a set of linked monitoring occasions thatare associated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordancewith selecting the first PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCHcandidate instead of the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates,where each of the multiple PDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates corresponds to a monitoring occasion of the set of linkedmonitoring occasions.

In some examples, the communications manager 1520 may be configured asor otherwise support a means for selecting a first number of PDCCHcandidates as monitored PDCCH candidates instead of a second number ofPDCCH candidates allocated to a set of linked SS sets that areassociated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance withselecting the first PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidateinstead of the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates, whereeach of the multiple PDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates corresponds to an SS set of the set of linked SS sets.

In some examples, the resource conflict between the first PDCCHcandidate and the second PDCCH candidate may be a result of a PDCCHcandidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rule forPDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof.

In some examples, the communications manager 1520 may be configured toperform various operations (such as receiving, monitoring, ortransmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the transceiver1515, the one or more antennas 1525, or any combination thereof.Although the communications manager 1520 is illustrated as a separatecomponent, in some examples, one or more functions described withreference to the communications manager 1520 may be supported by orperformed by the processor 1540, the memory 1530, the code 1535, or anycombination thereof. For example, the code 1535 may include instructionsexecutable by the processor 1540 to cause the device 1505 to performvarious aspects of techniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due toPDCCH candidate dropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition asdescribed herein, or the processor 1540 and the memory 1530 may beotherwise configured to perform or support such operations.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The operations ofthe method 1600 may be implemented by a UE or its components asdescribed herein. For example, the operations of the method 1600 may beperformed by a UE 115 as described with reference to FIGS. 1-14. In someexamples, a UE may execute a set of instructions to control thefunctional elements of the UE to perform the described functions.Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may perform aspects of thedescribed functions using special-purpose hardware.

At 1605, the method may include receiving an indication of a set oflinked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates including afirst PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that are associatedwith a same PDCCH information. The operations of 1605 may be performedin accordance with examples as disclosed herein.

At 1610, the method may include selecting the second PDCCH candidate formonitoring according to a resource conflict associated with the firstPDCCH candidate. The operations of 1610 may be performed in accordancewith examples as disclosed herein.

At 1615, the method may include selecting one of the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCHcandidate for monitoring. The operations of 1615 may be performed inaccordance with examples as disclosed herein.

At 1620, the method may include monitoring the second PDCCH candidate inaccordance with the selected reference. The operations of 1620 may beperformed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The operations ofthe method 1700 may be implemented by a UE or its components asdescribed herein. For example, the operations of the method 1700 may beperformed by a UE 115 as described with reference to FIGS. 1-14. In someexamples, a UE may execute a set of instructions to control thefunctional elements of the UE to perform the described functions.Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may perform aspects of thedescribed functions using special-purpose hardware.

At 1705, the method may include receiving an indication of a set oflinked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates includingmultiple PDCCH candidates that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation. The operations of 1705 may be performed in accordance withexamples as disclosed herein.

At 1710, the method may include selecting to monitor a first PDCCHcandidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates inaccordance with a resource conflict between the first PDCCH candidateand a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selected instead of anentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates. The operations of 1710may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein.

FIG. 18 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1800 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The operations ofthe method 1800 may be implemented by a BS or its components asdescribed herein. For example, the operations of the method 1800 may beperformed by a BS 105 as described with reference to FIGS. 1-13 and 15.In some examples, a BS may execute a set of instructions to control thefunctional elements of the BS to perform the described functions.Additionally, or alternatively, the BS may perform aspects of thedescribed functions using special-purpose hardware.

At 1805, the method may include outputting an indication of a set oflinked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates including afirst PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that are associatedwith a same PDCCH information. The operations of 1805 may be performedin accordance with examples as disclosed herein.

At 1810, the method may include selecting the second PDCCH candidate asa monitored PDCCH candidate according to a resource conflict associatedwith the first PDCCH candidate. The operations of 1810 may be performedin accordance with examples as disclosed herein.

At 1815, the method may include selecting one of the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCHcandidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate. The operations of 1815 maybe performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein.

At 1820, the method may include outputting the PDCCH information overthe second PDCCH candidate in accordance with the selected reference.The operations of 1820 may be performed in accordance with examples asdisclosed herein.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1900 that supportstechniques for unlinking PDCCH candidates due to PDCCH candidatedropping in deployments featuring PDCCH repetition. The operations ofthe method 1900 may be implemented by a BS or its components asdescribed herein. For example, the operations of the method 1900 may beperformed by a BS 105 as described with reference to FIGS. 1-13 and 15.In some examples, a BS may execute a set of instructions to control thefunctional elements of the BS to perform the described functions.Additionally, or alternatively, the BS may perform aspects of thedescribed functions using special-purpose hardware.

At 1905, the method may include outputting an indication of a set oflinked PDCCH candidates, the set of linked PDCCH candidates includingmultiple PDCCH candidates that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation. The operations of 1905 may be performed in accordance withexamples as disclosed herein.

At 1910, the method may include selecting a first PDCCH candidate thatis outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates as a monitored PDCCHcandidate in accordance with a resource conflict between the first PDCCHcandidate and a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set of linkedPDCCH candidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selected as themonitored PDCCH candidate instead of an entirety of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates. The operations of 1910 may be performed in accordancewith examples as disclosed herein.

The following provides an overview of some aspects of the presentdisclosure:

Aspect 1: A method for wireless communication at a UE, including:receiving an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate and a secondPDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCH information;selecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoring according to aresource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate; selectingone of the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate as areference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection withselecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoring; and monitoring thesecond PDCCH candidate in accordance with the selected reference.

Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, further including: updating, inaccordance with selecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoringaccording to the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, the set of linked PDCCH candidates to obtain an updated setof linked PDCCH candidates, where selecting one of the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates includes selecting the reference for the updatedset of linked PDCCH candidates.

Aspect 3: The method of aspect 2, where updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates includes: unlinking, from the set of linked PDCCH candidates,the first PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

Aspect 4: The method of any of aspects 2 or 3, where updating the set oflinked PDCCH candidates includes: unlinking a first monitoring occasionassociated with the first PDCCH candidate from a second monitoringoccasion associated with the second PDCCH candidate in accordance withthe resource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, wherethe updated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCHcandidate.

Aspect 5: The method of aspect 4, where updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates further includes: unlinking a first number of PDCCHcandidates associated with the first monitoring occasion and from asecond number of PDCCH candidates associated with the second monitoringoccasion.

Aspect 6: The method of any of aspects 2-5, where updating the set oflinked PDCCH candidates includes: unlinking a first SS set associatedwith the first PDCCH candidate from a second SS set associated with thesecond PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

Aspect 7: The method of aspect 6, where updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates further includes: unlinking a first number of monitoringoccasions associated with the first SS set from a second number ofmonitoring occasions associated with the second SS set.

Aspect 8: The method of any of aspects 1-7, where selecting one of thefirst PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference forthe set of linked PDCCH candidates includes: selecting the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates in accordance with a reference selection rule.

Aspect 9: The method of aspect 8, where the reference selection ruledefines a procedure for selecting the reference from a set of PDCCHcandidates including monitored PDCCH candidates and unmonitored PDCCHcandidates of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Aspect 10: The method of any of aspects 1-9, further including:communicating with a component of a base station in accordance with theselected reference, where scheduling information associated with thecommunicating with the component of the base station is a function of atime domain property or a frequency domain property of the selectedreference.

Aspect 11: The method of any of aspects 1-10, where the resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate is a result of aPDCCH candidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rulefor PDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof.

Aspect 12: A method for wireless communication at a UE, including:receiving an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidates that areassociated with a same PDCCH information; and selecting to monitor afirst PDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with a resource conflict between the firstPDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that is within the set oflinked PDCCH candidates, where the first PDCCH candidate is selectedinstead of an entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Aspect 13: The method of aspect 12, further including: refraining frommonitoring for a number of PDCCH candidates over a set of linkedmonitoring occasions that are associated with the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with selecting to monitor the first PDCCHcandidate instead of the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates,where each of the multiple PDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates corresponds to a monitoring occasion of the set of linkedmonitoring occasions.

Aspect 14: The method of any of aspects 12 or 13, further including:refraining from monitoring for a number of PDCCH candidates over a setof linked SS sets that are associated with the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with selecting to monitor the first PDCCHcandidate instead of the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates,where each of the multiple PDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates corresponds to an SS set of the set of linked SS sets.

Aspect 15: The method of any of aspects 12-14, where the resourceconflict between the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCHcandidate is a result of a PDCCH candidate overbooking, a schedulingconflict, or a priority rule for PDCCH monitoring, or any combinationthereof.

Aspect 16: A method for wireless communication at an apparatus of a BS,including: outputting an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate anda second PDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation; selecting the second PDCCH candidate as a monitored PDCCHcandidate according to a resource conflict associated with the firstPDCCH candidate; selecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or thesecond PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate asthe monitored PDCCH candidate; and outputting the PDCCH information overthe second PDCCH candidate in accordance with the selected reference.

Aspect 17: The method of aspect 16, further including: updating, inaccordance with selecting the second PDCCH candidate as the monitoredPDCCH candidate according to the resource conflict associated with thefirst PDCCH candidate, the set of linked PDCCH candidates to obtain anupdated set of linked PDCCH candidates, where selecting one of the firstPDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for theset of linked PDCCH candidates includes selecting the reference for theupdated set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Aspect 18: The method of aspect 17, where updating the set of linkedPDCCH candidates includes: unlinking, from the set of linked PDCCHcandidates, the first PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updatedset of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

Aspect 19: The method of any of aspects 17 or 18, where updating the setof linked PDCCH candidates includes: unlinking a first monitoringoccasion associated with the first PDCCH candidate from a secondmonitoring occasion associated with the second PDCCH candidate inaccordance with the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, where the updated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludes thefirst PDCCH candidate.

Aspect 20: The method of aspect 19, where updating the set of linkedPDCCH candidates further includes: unlinking a first number of PDCCHcandidates associated with the first monitoring occasion and from asecond number of PDCCH candidates associated with the second monitoringoccasion.

Aspect 21: The method of any of aspects 17-20, where updating the set oflinked PDCCH candidates includes: unlinking a first SS set associatedwith the first PDCCH candidate from a second SS set associated with thesecond PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate, where the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.

Aspect 22: The method of aspect 21, where updating the set of linkedPDCCH candidates further includes: unlinking a first number ofmonitoring occasions associated with the first SS set from a secondnumber of monitoring occasions associated with the second SS set.

Aspect 23: The method of any of aspects 16-22, where selecting thereference for the set of linked PDCCH candidates includes: selecting thefirst PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference forthe set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with a referenceselection rule.

Aspect 24: The method of aspect 23, where the reference selection ruledefines a procedure for selecting the reference from a set of PDCCHcandidates including monitored PDCCH candidates and unmonitored PDCCHcandidates of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Aspect 25: The method of any of aspects 16-24, further including:communicating in accordance with the selected reference, wherescheduling information associated with the communicating is a functionof a time domain property or a frequency domain property of the selectedreference.

Aspect 26: The method of any of aspects 16-25, where the resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate is a result of aPDCCH candidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rulefor PDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof.

Aspect 27: A method for wireless communication at an apparatus of a BS,including: outputting an indication of a set of linked PDCCH candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates including multiple PDCCH candidatesthat are associated with a same PDCCH information; and selecting a firstPDCCH candidate that is outside of the set of linked PDCCH candidates asa monitored PDCCH candidate in accordance with a resource conflictbetween the first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate that iswithin the set of linked PDCCH candidates, where the first PDCCHcandidate is selected as the monitored PDCCH candidate instead of anentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.

Aspect 28: The method of aspect 27, further including: selecting a firstnumber of PDCCH candidates as monitored PDCCH candidates instead of asecond number of PDCCH candidates allocated to a set of linkedmonitoring occasions that are associated with the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with selecting the first PDCCH candidate as themonitored PDCCH candidate instead of the entirety of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates, where each of the multiple PDCCH candidates of the setof linked PDCCH candidates corresponds to a monitoring occasion of theset of linked monitoring occasions.

Aspect 29: The method of any of aspects 27 or 28, further including:selecting a first number of PDCCH candidates as monitored PDCCHcandidates instead of a second number of PDCCH candidates allocated to aset of linked SS sets that are associated with the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in accordance with selecting the first PDCCH candidate as themonitored PDCCH candidate instead of the entirety of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates, where each of the multiple PDCCH candidates of the setof linked PDCCH candidates corresponds to an SS set of the set of linkedSS sets.

Aspect 30: The method of any of aspects 27-29, where the resourceconflict between the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCHcandidate is a result of a PDCCH candidate overbooking, a schedulingconflict, or a priority rule for PDCCH monitoring, or any combinationthereof.

Aspect 31: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including atleast a first interface, a processing system, and a second interfaceconfigured to cause the apparatus to perform a method of any of aspects1-11.

Aspect 32: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including aprocessor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored inthe memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus toperform a method of any of aspects 1-11.

Aspect 33: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including atleast one means for performing a method of any of aspects 1-11.

Aspect 34: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication at a UE, the code including instructionsexecutable by a processor to perform a method of any of aspects 1-11.

Aspect 35: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including atleast a first interface, a processing system, and a second interfaceconfigured to cause the apparatus to perform a method of any of aspects12-15.

Aspect 36: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including aprocessor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored inthe memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus toperform a method of any of aspects 12-15.

Aspect 37: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including atleast one means for performing a method of any of aspects 12-15.

Aspect 38: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication at a UE, the code including instructionsexecutable by a processor to perform a method of any of aspects 12-15.

Aspect 39: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including atleast a first interface, a processing system, and a second interfaceconfigured to cause the apparatus to perform a method of any of aspects16-26.

Aspect 40: An apparatus for wireless communication at an apparatus of aBS, including a processor; memory coupled with the processor; andinstructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to perform a method of any of aspects 16-26.

Aspect 41: An apparatus for wireless communication at an apparatus of aBS, including at least one means for performing a method of any ofaspects 16-26.

Aspect 42: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication at an apparatus of a BS, the code includinginstructions executable by a processor to perform a method of any ofaspects 16-26.

Aspect 43: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, including atleast a first interface, a processing system, and a second interfaceconfigured to cause the apparatus to perform a method of any of aspects27-30.

Aspect 44: An apparatus for wireless communication at an apparatus of aBS, including a processor; memory coupled with the processor; andinstructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to perform a method of any of aspects 27-30.

Aspect 45: An apparatus for wireless communication at an apparatus of aBS, including at least one means for performing a method of any ofaspects 27-30.

Aspect 46: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication at an apparatus of a BS, the code includinginstructions executable by a processor to perform a method of any ofaspects 27-30.

As used herein, the term “determine” or “determining” encompasses a widevariety of actions and, therefore, “determining” can includecalculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up(such as via looking up in a table, a database or another datastructure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” can includereceiving (such as receiving information), accessing (such as accessingdata in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” can includeresolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and other such similaractions.

As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of itemsrefers to any combination of those items, including single members. Asan example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a, b, c,a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c.

The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, circuits andalgorithm processes described in connection with the implementationsdisclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computersoftware, or combinations of both. The interchangeability of hardwareand software has been described generally, in terms of functionality,and illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits and processes described above. Whether such functionality isimplemented in hardware or software depends upon the particularapplication and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

The hardware and data processing apparatus used to implement the variousillustrative logics, logical blocks, modules and circuits described inconnection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented orperformed with a general purpose single- or multi-chip processor, adigital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or otherprogrammable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discretehardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform thefunctions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be amicroprocessor, or any processor, controller, microcontroller, or statemachine. A processor also may be implemented as a combination ofcomputing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor,a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors inconjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In someimplementations, particular processes and methods may be performed bycircuitry that is specific to a given function.

In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented inhardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware,including the structures disclosed in this specification and theirstructural equivalents thereof, or in any combination thereof.Implementations of the subject matter described in this specificationalso can be implemented as one or more computer programs, such as one ormore modules of computer program instructions, encoded on a computerstorage media for execution by, or to control the operation of, dataprocessing apparatus.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. The processes of a method or algorithmdisclosed herein may be implemented in a processor-executable softwaremodule which may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readablemedia includes both computer storage media and communication mediaincluding any medium that can be enabled to transfer a computer programfrom one place to another. A storage media may be any available mediathat may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to storedesired program code in the form of instructions or data structures andthat may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection can be properlytermed a computer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein,includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatiledisc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproducedata magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above also may be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method oralgorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes andinstructions on a machine readable medium and computer-readable medium,which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

Various modifications to the implementations described in thisdisclosure may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and thegeneric principles defined herein may be applied to otherimplementations without departing from the spirit or scope of thisdisclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theimplementations shown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scopeconsistent with this disclosure, the principles and the featuresdisclosed herein.

Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readilyappreciate, the terms “upper” and “lower” are sometimes used for ease ofdescribing the figures, and indicate relative positions corresponding tothe orientation of the figure on a properly oriented page, and may notreflect the proper orientation of any device as implemented.

Certain features that are described in this specification in the contextof separate implementations also can be implemented in combination in asingle implementation. Conversely, various features that are describedin the context of a single implementation also can be implemented inmultiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination.Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in somecombinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more featuresfrom a claimed combination can be excised from the combination, and theclaimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation ofa subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one more exampleprocesses in the form of a flow diagram. However, other operations thatare not depicted can be incorporated in the example processes that areschematically illustrated. For example, one or more additionaloperations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or betweenany of the illustrated operations. In some circumstances, multitaskingand parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation ofvarious system components in the implementations described above shouldnot be understood as requiring such separation in all implementations,and it may be understood that the described program components andsystems can generally be integrated together in a single softwareproduct or packaged into multiple software products. Additionally, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims. In someimplementations, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in adifferent order and still achieve desirable results.

1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE),comprising: a first interface configured to: obtain an indication of aset of linked physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates, theset of linked PDCCH candidates comprising a first PDCCH candidate and asecond PDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation; a processing system configured to: select the second PDCCHcandidate for monitoring according to a resource conflict associatedwith the first PDCCH candidate; select one of the first PDCCH candidateor the second PDCCH candidate as a reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates in connection with selecting the second PDCCH candidate formonitoring; and monitor the second PDCCH candidate in accordance withthe selected reference.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessing system is further configured to: update, in accordance withselecting the second PDCCH candidate for monitoring according to theresource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, the set oflinked PDCCH candidates to obtain an updated set of linked PDCCHcandidates, wherein selecting one of the first PDCCH candidate or thesecond PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set of linked PDCCHcandidates comprises selecting the reference for the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein updatingthe set of linked PDCCH candidates further comprises: unlinking, fromthe set of linked PDCCH candidates, the first PDCCH candidate inaccordance with the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, wherein the updated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludesthe first PDCCH candidate.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein updatingthe set of linked PDCCH candidates further comprises: unlinking a firstmonitoring occasion associated with the first PDCCH candidate from asecond monitoring occasion associated with the second PDCCH candidate inaccordance with the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, wherein the updated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludesthe first PDCCH candidate.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein updatingthe set of linked PDCCH candidates further comprises: unlinking a firstnumber of PDCCH candidates associated with the first monitoring occasionand from a second number of PDCCH candidates associated with the secondmonitoring occasion.
 6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein updating theset of linked PDCCH candidates further comprises: unlinking a firstsearch space (SS) set associated with the first PDCCH candidate from asecond SS set associated with the second PDCCH candidate in accordancewith the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate,wherein the updated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the firstPDCCH candidate.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein updating the setof linked PDCCH candidates further comprises: unlinking a first numberof monitoring occasions associated with the first SS set from a secondnumber of monitoring occasions associated with the second SS set.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein selecting one of the first PDCCH candidateor the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set of linkedPDCCH candidates further comprises: selecting the first PDCCH candidateor the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set of linkedPDCCH candidates in accordance with a reference selection rule.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the reference selection rule defines aprocedure for selecting the reference from a set of PDCCH candidatesincluding monitored PDCCH candidates and unmonitored PDCCH candidates ofthe set of linked PDCCH candidates.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the first interface or a second interface is configured to:communicate with a component of a base station (BS) in accordance withthe selected reference, wherein scheduling information associated withthe communicating with the component of the BS is a function of a timedomain property or a frequency domain property of the selectedreference.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate is a result of a PDCCHcandidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rule forPDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof.
 12. An apparatus forwireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a firstinterface configured to: obtain an indication of a set of linkedphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates, the set of linkedPDCCH candidates comprising multiple PDCCH candidates that areassociated with a same PDCCH information; and a processing systemconfigured to: select to monitor a first PDCCH candidate that is outsideof the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with a resourceconflict between the first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidatethat is within the set of linked PDCCH candidates, wherein the firstPDCCH candidate is selected instead of an entirety of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processingsystem is further configured to: refrain from monitoring for a number ofPDCCH candidates over a set of linked monitoring occasions that areassociated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance withselecting to monitor the first PDCCH candidate instead of the entiretyof the set of linked PDCCH candidates, wherein each of the multiplePDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCH candidates corresponds to amonitoring occasion of the set of linked monitoring occasions.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing system is furtherconfigured to: refrain from monitoring for a number of PDCCH candidatesover a set of linked search space (SS) sets that are associated with theset of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with selecting to monitorthe first PDCCH candidate instead of the entirety of the set of linkedPDCCH candidates, wherein each of the multiple PDCCH candidates of theset of linked PDCCH candidates corresponds to an SS set of the set oflinked SS sets.
 15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the resourceconflict between the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCHcandidate is a result of a PDCCH candidate overbooking, a schedulingconflict, or a priority rule for PDCCH monitoring, or any combinationthereof.
 16. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station(BS), comprising: a first interface configured to: output an indicationof a set of linked physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates,the set of linked PDCCH candidates comprising a first PDCCH candidateand a second PDCCH candidate that are associated with a same PDCCHinformation; a processing system configured to: select the second PDCCHcandidate as a monitored PDCCH candidate according to a resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate; and select one ofthe first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate as a referencefor the set of linked PDCCH candidates in connection with selecting thesecond PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate; and the firstinterface or a second interface configured to: output the PDCCHinformation over the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theselected reference.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein theprocessing system is further configured to: update, in accordance withselecting the second PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidateaccording to the resource conflict associated with the first PDCCHcandidate, the set of linked PDCCH candidates to obtain an updated setof linked PDCCH candidates, wherein selecting one of the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates comprises selecting the reference for theupdated set of linked PDCCH candidates.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein updating the set of linked PDCCH candidates further comprises:unlinking, from the set of linked PDCCH candidates, the first PDCCHcandidate in accordance with the resource conflict associated with thefirst PDCCH candidate, wherein the updated set of linked PDCCHcandidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.
 19. The apparatus ofclaim 17, wherein updating the set of linked PDCCH candidates furthercomprises: unlinking a first monitoring occasion associated with thefirst PDCCH candidate from a second monitoring occasion associated withthe second PDCCH candidate in accordance with the resource conflictassociated with the first PDCCH candidate, wherein the updated set oflinked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCH candidate.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 19, wherein updating the set of linked PDCCHcandidates further comprises: unlinking a first number of PDCCHcandidates associated with the first monitoring occasion and from asecond number of PDCCH candidates associated with the second monitoringoccasion.
 21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein updating the set oflinked PDCCH candidates further comprises: unlinking a first searchspace (SS) set associated with the first PDCCH candidate from a secondSS set associated with the second PDCCH candidate in accordance with theresource conflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate, wherein theupdated set of linked PDCCH candidates excludes the first PDCCHcandidate.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein updating the set oflinked PDCCH candidates further comprises: unlinking a first number ofmonitoring occasions associated with the first SS set from a secondnumber of monitoring occasions associated with the second SS set. 23.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein selecting the reference for the setof linked PDCCH candidates further comprises: selecting the first PDCCHcandidate or the second PDCCH candidate as the reference for the set oflinked PDCCH candidates in accordance with a reference selection rule.24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the reference selection ruledefines a procedure for selecting the reference from a set of PDCCHcandidates including monitored PDCCH candidates and unmonitored PDCCHcandidates of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.
 25. The apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the first interface or the second interface is furtherconfigured to: communicate in accordance with the selected reference,wherein scheduling information associated with the communicating is afunction of a time domain property or a frequency domain property of theselected reference.
 26. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the resourceconflict associated with the first PDCCH candidate is a result of aPDCCH candidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rulefor PDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof.
 27. An apparatus forwireless communication at a base station (BS), comprising: a firstinterface configured to: output an indication of a set of linkedphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates, the set of linkedPDCCH candidates comprising multiple PDCCH candidates that areassociated with a same PDCCH information; and a processing systemconfigured to: select a first PDCCH candidate that is outside of the setof linked PDCCH candidates as a monitored PDCCH candidate in accordancewith a resource conflict between the first PDCCH candidate and a secondPDCCH candidate that is within the set of linked PDCCH candidates,wherein the first PDCCH candidate is selected as the monitored PDCCHcandidate instead of an entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates.28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing system is furtherconfigured to: select a first number of PDCCH candidates as monitoredPDCCH candidates instead of a second number of PDCCH candidatesallocated to a set of linked monitoring occasions that are associatedwith the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance with selecting thefirst PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidate instead of theentirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates, wherein each of themultiple PDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCH candidatescorresponds to a monitoring occasion of the set of linked monitoringoccasions.
 29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing systemis further configured to: select a first number of PDCCH candidates asmonitored PDCCH candidates instead of a second number of PDCCHcandidates allocated to a set of linked search space (SS) sets that areassociated with the set of linked PDCCH candidates in accordance withselecting the first PDCCH candidate as the monitored PDCCH candidateinstead of the entirety of the set of linked PDCCH candidates, whereineach of the multiple PDCCH candidates of the set of linked PDCCHcandidates corresponds to an SS set of the set of linked SS sets. 30.The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the resource conflict between thefirst PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is a result of aPDCCH candidate overbooking, a scheduling conflict, or a priority rulefor PDCCH monitoring, or any combination thereof. 31-114. (canceled)